Eritrean new talent Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedhin from the World Cycling Centre Africa team won the Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge in Port Elizabeth today.
By MTN-Qhubeka,
This week it was revealed that Merhawi Kudus will be riding for the MTN-Qhubeka World Cycling Centre Africa Team next year and he proved today why he deserves his spot on the team.
Bradley Potgieter was the top finisher for Team MTN-Qhubeka in fourth place.
The race was the second in the series and changed its venue from the Altona Primary school to the Aldo Scribante race track dew to excessive rain in the area and took on a circuit format of 2.2km’s for 60 laps.
The professionals welcomed the increase in distance, as the race was aggressive from the start. Team MTN-Qhubeka’s Arran Brown and Martin Wesemann were involved in a dangerous move early on until the peloton brought them back.
Merhawi Kudus made the final selection in the race during the closing kilometers before attacking his breakaway companions with two laps to go in an impressive display of power to win solo.
A delighted Director of the World Cycling Centre in Africa, JP van Zyl said, “It just shows our training program is working. After the race Merhawi said to me ‘coach, I can now see why you give us those hard 20 minutes sessions’, but I told them wins like this will happen because the team is dedicated.”
After two rounds, the World Cycling Centre now leads the team competition in the Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge with Team MTN-Qhubeka in second place.
“This is a good sign for the two teams to be leading the competition as next year when we will ride as MTN-Qhubeka World Cycling Centre Africa Team. I think MTN-Qhubeka boss Douglas Ryder has done the right thing in bringing this team together,” concluded van Zyl.
MTN-Qhubeka World Cycling Centre Africa Team will act as a feeder team to the MTN-Qhubeka Pro Continental team.
MTN-Qhubeka World Cycling Centre Africa Team so far consists riders like:
Arran Brown (South Africa), Calvin Beneke (South Africa), JC Nel (South Africa), Tesfay Habtemariam (Eritrea), Dawit Haile (Eritrea), Alem Grmay (Ethiopia), Janvier Hadi (Rwanda), Allaa Mohamed Ahmed (Egypt), Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedhin (Eritrea), and Till Drobisch (Namibia).
The final leg of the Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge takes place in Durban on 11 November.
Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge – Port Elizabeth Results:
1. Merhawi Kudus (World Cycling Centre Africa)
2. Dylan Girdlestone (Westvaal-BMC)
3. Theuns van der Bank (Nu Water)
4. Brad Potgieter (MTN-Qhubeka)
5. Meron Emmanuel (World Cycling Centre Africa)
