Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Team
MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung have announced that Serge Pauwels will join their
African Pro-Continental team next season.
Pauwels joins Team MTN-Qhubeka after
having spent the past five years racing at the World Tour level.
Pauwels is a
super strong domestique who has ridden in support of a number of grand tour
contenders and also has an impressive team time trial record.
Having
ridden all three grand tours, Pauwels experience is a resource that will be
extremely important to our team as we look to develop our young African
climbers into real GC contenders. The support Pauwels will be able to give our
young Africans in the mountains and in stage races will be instrumental to
their success. Coming from Belgium, Pauwels addition to our squad is also
really important in terms of globalising our team for increased support to the
Qhubeka foundation.
"Over the last couple of years I have
had the luck to ride for some of the biggest teams in the world. Having been in
a supportive role for some of the best riders on the planet, I have gained a
lot of experience, especially in Grand Tours. At Team MTN-Qhubeka I will get
the unique opportunity to share this experience with young, promising African
riders like Louis Meintjes and Merhawi Kudus. Team MTN-Qhubeka is for me a team
with a soul, and that's why I am very excited to take on this new challenge,
which comes at a perfect time in my career," said Pauwels.
"I am really happy that Serge has
taken on the challenge to join Team MTN-Qhubeka. Our African riders like
Merhawi Kudus, Louis Meintjes and Jacques Janse van Rensburg have shown what
they are able to achieve in a grand tour and in stage races this year, with
Serge’s experience and support we now have a rider that can help them on their
path to become GC contenders into the near future. We have been on a steep
learning curve since Team MTN-Qhubeka became a Pro Continental team last year
and this is another step forward in our development," added Team Principal, Douglas Ryder.
