On Wednesday Team Qhubeka ASSOS (www.TeamQhubeka.com) will line up at the second of the three Ardennes Classics, La Fleche Wallonne. The Belgian UCI World Tour classic splits the other two Ardennes races, Amstel Gold Race and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
La Fleche Wallonne will see a familiar route for the 85th edition of the race, including 3 ascents of its famous climb, the Mur de Huy, with the finish line being at the summit of the final ascent.
The Mur de Huy will no doubt be the main feature of the race, with a large group expected to arrive at the foot of the final 1.2km climb again, to "sprint" up the steep gradient which maxes out at a gradient of 26%.
Team Qhubeka ASSOS will be looking to its punchy climbers to do the business on Wednesday, with Simon Clarke, Sergio Henao and Fabio Aru being supported by Sander Armee, Sean Bennett, Bert-Jan Lindeman and Robert Power.
Thank you to one of our loyal supporters, Mxolsi Nene, for sending in a video (https://bit.ly/3tLUrIp) to announce our Fleche Wallonne line-up.
Fabio Aru
"I am quite excited to be racing Fleche Wallonne. It is the first time in my career I will start this race. The race has a beautiful tradition and there are many great stories from the Mur de Huy. I look forward to experience this race with Team Qhubeka ASSOS. Sergio and Simon have a lot of experience for this race, so together we will make a good plan for the team to try and achieve a good result."
Media Contact:
Jean Smyth (Head of Communications)
Email: jean@ryder.co.za
Mobile: +27 63 4701 1710 or +31 625 739 033
About Team Qhubeka ASSOS:
Team Qhubeka ASSOS is a purpose-led, high-performance team, fighting to win on the world's biggest stage, to inspire hope and create opportunity. Founded in 2007, Team Qhubeka ASSOS (formerly NTT Pro Cycling) became the first-ever African cycling team to gain a UCI WorldTour license, in 2016.
We achieved our first major win in 2013 when Gerald Ciolek won Milan-San Remo, one of the five Monuments of cycling. We have competed in six Tour de France’s and notched up 7 stage wins, with Mark Cavendish wearing the coveted Yellow Jersey at the 2016 Tour de France.
We are a multicultural, diverse team with bases in South Africa, the Netherlands and Italy. There are 19 nationalities represented across our World Tour and continental feeder team rosters. Our focus on developing African cycling has resulted in more than 55 riders from the African continent be given the opportunity to race on the world stage, since the team's inception.
We race to help people to move forward with bicycles through our relationship with Qhubeka Charity. Through our work with Qhubeka, we have contributed to the distribution of over 30 000 bicycles in communities in South Africa.
About Qhubeka:
Qhubeka is a charity that moves people forward with bicycles. People earn bicycles through our programmes, improving their access to schools, clinics and jobs.
A bicycle is a tool that helps people to travel faster and further, and to carry more. In the face of extreme and persistent poverty, bicycles can change lives by helping to address socioeconomic challenges at the most basic level – helping people to get where they need to go.
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