Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung, which is set to race as Team Dimension Data next season, is happy to announce the addition of two new riders; Nathan Haas and Omar Fraile. Moreover, the team will keep its core line-up.
Norwegian national road race champion Edvald Boasson Hagen will remain with the South African team, as will Steve Cummings, Tyler Farrar, Jacques Janse van Rensburg, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Daniel Teklehaimanot, Merhawi Kudus, and Serge Pauwels. The eight have been part of the successful Tour de France team in July. They will be joined by the likes of La Vuelta stage winner Kristian Sbaragli and Eritrean national road race champion Natnael Berhane among others.
Australian Nathan Haas was the first new rider to sign a contract for our South African registered team. Over the last four years the 26-year-old has been riding for Cannondale-Garmin, with two wins at the iconic Japan Cup being his major results. He also showed strong performances in shorter stage races. He will be a valuable rider when races come down to small bunch sprints.
Spaniard Omar Fraile makes the move from Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. He comes off a strong season that saw him taking wins at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque and the Giro dell’Appennino. He also managed to climb onto the final podium of the Vuelta a Espana in Madrid as winner of the King of the Mountain classification. The 25-year-old will be a strong addition to the teams climbing group.
I’m incredibly excited to join the team because I feel it on the most inherent level represents the true Global and Worldwide reach that professional cycling is moving in. Not only does the team compete at the highest level of the sport, it translate our love of sport across all aspects of cycling, weighing equal importance on the bike as a necessity of transport, environment, and sport.
The team has shown to be a team that races – and truly races, not rides – at every event they participate in, and they do so with their hearts and pride on their sleeves. I’m proud of the opportunity to get to be a part of this team, and hopefully create opportunities for my teammates and myself that further demonstrate that racing from the hearts can win the hearts of the world. And to be back with Tyler, what can I say, he’s one of my best friends in the sport and I’ve missed racing with him. So to be back together is just huge! He’s a great captain and moral booster for any team so we are all lucky to be riding with him.
Nathan Haas – Rider
I am very excited to get the chance to ride for such a well-established and international team. I have had a great year and I only can thank my current team, Yet, for my development as a rider I feel like it’s time to move on. This team will help me stepping up.
I will do my best to live up to the team’s expectations. It would be great to get some good results in stage races and On the personal side, I want to achieve good results in stage races and help to put more children in rural areas in Africa on bikes through my performances.
Omar Fraile – Rider
Nathan is just the type of rider this team is all about. Great personality and willing to race aggressively. This type of visibility in races is very important to our #BicyclesChangeLives campaign. I think his style of racing will compliment another couple of our team riders and elevate them to more success together.
Going into La Vuelta I thought we should look out for Omar Fraile. It did not take long for Omar to shine as he obtained the King of the Mountains jersey after stage 3 and kept it all the way to the end. Having met Omar in Andorra during La Vuelta I could see a young talented rider with a great passion to succeed. We look forward to developing his talent even further and look forward to integrating Omar into our climbing group.
Brian Smith – General Manager
Dimension data must be pumping in quite a bit of cash into this team.,...... which is awesome.