Later this year MTN-Qhubeka will line up at the Vuelta a Espana but before their grand tour debut, they will test their stage racing pedigree in the Tour de Suisse. They will line up their A team for the 9-day Tour, with Gerald Ciolek leading the charge in the sprints and Sergio Pardilla, Linus Gerdemann and Louis Meintjes looking for success in the mountains.

The 78th Tour du Suisse will start on Saturday with a 9.4km prologue around the town of Bellinzona. After receiving a wild card entry to this World Tour race earlier in the year, Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung are excited to finally grab hold of the many opportunities that await them over the duration of the tour. 9 days of racing against the world's best riders who will be in peak physical condition ahead of the upcoming Tour de France, will be the main challenge at hand.

Along with the challenge of the sporting perspective at the Tour du Suisse, another challenging aspect of professional cycling lies ahead for Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung. Logistically, running a cycling team can be extremely difficult especially when you are racing every day for 3 weeks, as in a grand tour. After being invited to the Vuelta a Espana this year, the Tour du Suisse will provide MTN-Qhubeka with the perfect opportunity to use the 9 days of racing in Switzerland as a full dress rehearsal before its Spanish rendezvous in August. They are expecting every bit of our infrastructure to be tested as the Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung roadshow goes on display worldwide.

While trying to run a program that is smooth and efficient is a top priority at the Tour du Suisse, it is not the only goal the team hopes to achieve. The squad will start with high ambitions, looking to target key stages and also a high finish on the General Classification. After climbing exceptionally well at the recent Tour of Norway, Gerald Ciolek provides them with a very strong card to play on the opening 5 road stages. Daniel Teklehaimanot also showed his form is on the rise by taking 3rd at the final Tour du Luxembourg stage last week, both riders will look to target stage results. Linus Gerdemann gives Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung a real chance at a high placing on the overall classification particularly when you look at the firepower surrounding the German tour rider.

Line-up:

Gerald Ciolek, Linus Gerdemann, Sergio Pardilla, Daniel Teklehaimanot, Jay Thomson, Jaco Venter, Jacques Van Rensburg and Louis Meintjes