We are delighted to announce that Henok Mulubrhan has signed his first professional contract and will join the Team Qhubeka NextHash (www.TeamQhubeka.com) WorldTour team from 1 January, 2022.
The 21-year-old from Asmara, Eritrea, makes the progression following two years spent with Team Qhubeka’s UCI Continental team based in Lucca, Italy.
2021 has proved to be an excellent season, so far, which has included placing second at Giro del Medio Brenta, third place on stage two of the under 23 Giro d’Italia where he also placed 17th overall on the general classification and a hugely impressive sixth at Giro dell'Appennino, among others.
Mulubrhan has also raced this season with our WorldTour team, as a member of our squad that competed at Trofeo Andratx and Trofeo Calvia.
He joins an illustrious list of riders including the likes of Daniel Teklehaimanot, Merhawi Kudus, Nicholas Dlamini, Ryan Gibbons, Stefan de Bod, Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg and others, that have taken the step from our team to the WorldTour and gone on to compete consistently at the very highest level.
Henok Mulubrhan
I am very happy to receive my first professional contract. It was always a dream of mine to be a professional, from the age of 17 when I was racing with the Eritrean team. I need to thank my family for their support, particularly my father and my uncle. My Father always believed in me, he told everyone I will be a professional one day and supported me a lot.
He came to every race I did and if he could get a visa, I know he would want to come to all my races in Europe too. My uncle did a lot to help me financially in my career, even now he still helps me. I need to thank them a lot but also to the whole Eritrean community, my fans, who always support and encourage me.
To the team, I am very grateful to the Qhubeka Continental team for the opportunity. With them, my dream changed from just being a dream to becoming a realistic goal. They gave me opportunity to experience racing in Europe and to increase my level. Thank you to Kevin (Campbell) and Daniele (Nieri) and all the Continental team staff and also to my teammates who helped me. Last year I lived, trained and raced with guys like Natnael Tesfatsion and Leonardo Marchiori. They turned pro from this team so it gave me a lot of motivation to train hard and keep believing I can do it too.
Now I start from the beginning again, and it is time for a new dream as a professional. I want to start a grand tour, that is my next goal and after, in a few years my family dream is to see me win a stage in a grand tour. This is what I will work towards.
Douglas Ryder – Team Principal
One of the greatest pleasures that I have is seeing young riders taking the opportunity to establish themselves in our Continental team and then earning their spot to ride on the highest level with our WorldTour team. That is exactly what our team is about, to create hope and opportunity for a successful career as a professional cyclist and continue to inspire hope in others that their dreams can come true.
Henok’s hugely impressed all of us; he’s not only ridden so well with our Continental team but also spent some time racing successfully with the WorldTour team. His hard work and adaptation to international racing is showing incredible improvements which we hope will go from strength to strength, and we look forward to playing our part in that journey to see him realise his dreams.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Team Qhubeka NextHash.
Media Contact:
Jean Smyth
Head of Communications
Email: jean@ryder.co.za
Mobile: +27 63 470 1710 or +31 625 739 033
About Team Qhubeka NextHash:
Team Qhubeka NextHash 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 NextHash (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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