{"id":21522,"date":"2013-10-04T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2013\/10\/04\/four-african-riders-to-make-worldtour-debut-in-lombardia-r999\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T12:22:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T12:22:10","slug":"four-african-riders-to-make-worldtour-debut-in-lombardia-r999","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/four-african-riders-to-make-worldtour-debut-in-lombardia-r999\/","title":{"rendered":"Four African Riders To Make WorldTour Debut In Lombardia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This Sunday presents another opportunity for Team MTN-Qhubeka p\/b Samsung to display its project to the world when it lines up for another of cycling\u2019s monuments, Il Lombardia. As the team hopes to make its GrandTour debut in 2014, the race allows another opportunity to race in front of the Giro d\u2019Italia organisation.<\/p>\n<div style=\"max-width:400px;\">\n<a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-41808-0-93088600-1380887251.jpg\" data-fileid=\"273130\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"273130\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-41808-0-93088600-1380887251.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-41808-0-93088600-1380887251.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p>The WorldTour race is one of the most prestigious on the calendar and a major target for the world\u2019s best climbers. The race is a fan favourite and again, Africa\u2019s first Professional Continental team is proud to publicize the work Qhubeka is doing in Africa, raising funding to mobilise people on bicycles.<\/p>\n<p>The day is also set to be a historic one as four African riders in the eight man team to start the race will be making their WorldTour debut. Silver medalist from the recent World Championships, Louis Meintjes, will be joined by Tsgabu Grmay, Jacques Janse van Rensburg and Meron Russom in starting a WorldTour race for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m happy to be able to race against all the big riders in the world and also to be working for our team in the WorldTour,\u201d Russom said. \u201cIt seems like the weather might be the same as the World Championships last week. I\u2019ve taken a look at the profile and it\u2019s going to be a hard race. I think we are ready as a team and someone like Sergio [Pardilla] could make a good result so we will all give our best for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rest of the team will comprise Sergio Pardilla, Ignatas Konovalovas, Jay Thomson and Songezo Jim. With the weather forecast not looking favourable for Sunday, at this stage it seems the peloton will have to navigate the 242 kilometre course in wet conditions similar to last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLombardia is a beautiful race that\u2019s always hard. It\u2019s a day for climbers. The race has great history and is known as The Race of the Falling Leaves. It is the last big race that gives closure towards the end of the season. It is the last of the five monuments and\u2028 undoubtedly, it is one of the most memorable races,\u201d Pardilla said.<\/p>\n<p>The race starts in Bergamo and will travel along the scenic Lake Como before finishing in Lecco. The Muro di Sormano climb is included again in the 2013 edition of the race and will no doubt play a role in the final outcome.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bg-slate-100 p-5\">\nIl Lombardia (Italy) \u2013 (October 6 \/ WorldTour): Jacques Janse van Rensburg (RSA), Louis Meintjes (RSA), Tsgabu Grmay (ETH), Songezo Jim (RSA), Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU), Jay Thomson, Meron Russom (ERI), Sergio Pardilla (SPA)\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Sunday presents another opportunity for Team MTN-Qhubeka p\/b Samsung to display its project to the world when it lines up for another of cycling\u2019s monuments, Il Lombardia. As the team hopes to make its GrandTour debut in 2014, the race allows another opportunity to race in front of the Giro d\u2019Italia organisation. The WorldTour [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5169,5170,1838,3308],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-grandtour","tag-il-lombardia","tag-road","tag-team-mtn-qhubeka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21522"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}