Team Qhubeka ASSOS is excited to announce that Connor Brown, Harry Tanfield and Emil Vinjebo will all join our WorldTour team in 2021.
Brown, who was born in Cape Town and holds dual South African and New Zealand citizenship, takes the step up from our hugely successful Continental team where he has spent the last two seasons.
Under the impressive guidance of Kevin Campbell, this team based in Lucca, Italy, has a remarkable record of delivering riders to the WorldTour which includes Samuele Battistella, the 2019 under 23 World Champion. Brown now becomes the latest to come out of that system.
In a year without many opportunities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Brown shone at the under 23 Giro d’Italia taking a hugely impressive third place on a big mountain finish at Montespluga on stage seven. He also represented the WorldTour team at the Giro della Toscana and Coppa Sabatini; in the former he performed strongly in the breakaway while in the latter he did an excellent job in looking after our sprinter Carlos Barbero.
In 2019 he won a stage at the Tour de Limpopo, taking third overall, and has also finished in the top-10 at the Oceania Continental Championships.
Tanfield is no stranger to the WorldTour having ridden previously for Katusha-Alpecin and most recently AG2R La Mondiale. A former stage winner at the Tour de Yorkshire, where he famously won from a breakaway that stayed away on a day that was an expected sprint finish, Tanfield’s track experience as well as time trial abilities see him a valuable addition to the team in terms of his versatility.
Vinjebo’s a former top-10 finisher overall at the Tour of Denmark as well as taking a third at the Tro-Bro Leon in 2019 to go with a fourth at the Royal Bernard Drome Classic in 2019.
The 26-year-old has excellent ability as a support rider which was highlighted by the crucial role he played with his former team, in taking their stage victory at the Tour de Yorkshire in 2019 and when representing the national team at the World Championships. His abilities to ride at high-speed, over distance, and to get over medium climbs will be crucial for the team’s ambitions in the 2021 season.
Their signings follow from the confirmations of those including Simon Clarke, Sean Bennett, Lukasz Wisniowski, Dimitri Claeys, Kilian Frankiny and Karel Vacek.
Connor Brown
I’ve been dreaming of riding in the WorldTour for as long as I can remember and it’s finally a reality. My two years with the Continental team have been very special, and the perfect platform from which to now take the next step in my career.
I’d like to pay a special thanks to Doug and the team for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.
Harry Tanfield
I really look forward to the opportunity to be involved with an ambitious and passionate team that is Team Qhubeka ASSOS.
The teams’ ethos and work with the Qhubeka Charity is something to admire and I can’t wait to be involved in the future. Alongside this, the loyalty of the team’s partners and sponsors and the positive team environment make Qhubeka ASSOS the optimal place for me to progress.
I’m looking forward to embarking on this new challenge and contributing to the team next year.
Emil Vinjebo
I’m really looking forward to joining Team Qhubeka ASSOS next year. It has been a childhood dream for me since I started cycling as a little kid. This contract is exactly what I have been training towards for years.
Personally, I also look forward to working with Lars Michaelsen, who is a person I admire and have a great amount of respect for.
Furthermore, I am very excited to be a part of the Qhubeka organisation. Besides of course being a world-class team, the team makes a great effort in changing lives, and that inspires me!
Lars Michaelsen
All three of these signings will be able to add hugely to the versatility within our squad which will be crucial to our ambitions in 2021.
In Emil we’ve got a guy who demonstrates resilience when things are tough – highlighted by some of his personal results – but even more so when riding for the team. I’m excited for what he will have to offer, and this is a big chance for him now to show those capabilities on the WorldTour.
Harry has the experience at this level now to take the next step and has scored some really good results in the past. His track experience and time trialling ability will bring an added dimension to our outfit and I look forward to seeing how he will get on in our environment.
While I am just so pleased for Connor. Him taking the step up to our WorldTour team is once again the confirmation that the system we have in place is working and we continue to offer young riders their next opportunity in their career. He’s had some very good performances and as a former junior team pursuit world record holder has a good “engine”, so let’s see what he can now produce at the highest level.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of NTT Pro Cycling.
Media Contact:
Jean Smyth (Head of Communications)
Email: jean@ryder.co.za
Mobile: +27 63 4701 1710 or +31 625 739 033
About NTT Pro Cycling:
Founded in 2007, NTT Pro Cycling (formerly Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka) (http://www.NTTProCycling.com) became the first-ever African cycling team to gain a WorldTour license, in 2016. With the support of our headline sponsor and technology innovation partner, NTT, we are the most purpose-driven, performance-led, and technology-enabled team in pro cycling today.
Our ambition is to continue to race at the highest levels in world cycling, to develop riders to realise their full potential and to inspire and motivate people across the African continent to ride bicycles.
We have bases in South Africa, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy.
We also ride to raise awareness for Qhubeka, a global charity operating in South Africa, through our #BicyclesChangeLives campaign.
The hands on the back of the team race jersey are a reminder that every Qhubeka bicycle is a helping hand up to a beneficiary, which are provided through Qhubeka's learn-to-earn and work-to-earn programmes.
About Qhubeka:
Qhubeka (https://Qhubeka.org/) 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.
About NTT Ltd.:
NTT Ltd. (https://hello.global.NTT/) is a global technology services company bringing together the expertise of leaders in the field, including NTT Communications, Dimension Data and NTT Security. We partner with organizations around the world to shape and achieve outcomes through intelligent technology solutions. For us, intelligent means data driven, connected, digital and secure. As a global ICT provider, we employ more than 40,000 people in a diverse and dynamic workplace and deliver services in over 200 countries and regions. Together we enable the connected future.
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