News: Team Qhubeka ASSOS Signing Riders for 2021

Team Qhubeka ASSOS signs Giacomo Nizzolo for 2021, the current European and Italian champion as well as Simon Clarke, Dimitri Claeys and Kilian Frankiny.

News: Team Qhubeka ASSOS Signing Riders for 2021

Team Qhubeka ASSOS signs Giacomo Nizzolo for 2021, the current European and Italian champion as well as Simon Clarke, Dimitri Claeys and Kilian Frankiny.

Giacomo Nizzolo’s signing is a major coup and follows on from the announcement last week of the team’s continuation into 2021 with its stated ambition as a high-performance, purpose-led team together with ASSOS of Switzerland; and all in the support of the Qhubeka Charity (Qhubeka.org).

The in-demand Italian, who together with his memorable victories in Plouay and Cittadella, also stormed to WorldTour stage victories at both the Santos Tour Down Under and Paris-Nice in a dynamic start to the year. His impressive run saw him place second at Race Torquay, Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne as well as Circuito de Getxo, and he surged to an excellent fifth place at Milan-Sanremo, to go with numerous other top-10 performances.

His season, disappointingly, was ended by a leg injury sustained during the opening week of the Tour de France where he’d been in the hunt for a first-ever Grand Tour stage victory. The 31-year-old’s fighting style of riding has captivated and thrilled fans, and epitomises in many respects the team’s fight for its own survival in recent months. Despite his truncated season, Nizzolo still finished 2020 as the 24th ranked rider in the world, as per the official UCI rankings.

Nizzolo’s new deal also follows on the confirmation of the re-signing of Victor Campenaerts, Max Walscheid, Michael Gogl, Dylan Sunderland, Andreas Stokbro and Domenico Pozzovivo for the 2021 season.

Other new signings below… continued after the advert.

Giacomo Nizzolo: My decision to stay was because I really feel a part of this team and this project. Qhubeka is an incredible organisation that enables lives to be changed through bicycles, it is something great. Two years ago I was in South Africa and watched on as kids received bikes, it was something very emotional that inspired me during the season, and across my life actually. It’s something that I will never forget.

I’m really looking forward to race as soon as possible again as the European champion and as a part of this new chapter. I feel like the team believes in me 100%, and they’ve created a project which is inspiring and gives me extra motivation; having teammates and staff believing that I’m a leader within the team is something that I really need to enable me to perform.

2020 has been a crazy year, of course because of Covid and the crazy situation around the world as well as in cycling. For me in the end it was successful; at the start I had a good winter and then a very good start Tour Down Under and as well at Paris-Nice. Then I restarted training very hard during lockdown looking forward to perform well at Sanremo, which was one of my main goals. I was good there, really good, and from that point I thought that I could be competitive in trying to win the Italian Championship and the European Championship – and I did, which was great!

At the Tour de France I had a great chance on the first day, I felt great, but a sprint is a sprint and I couldn’t find a way through as I wanted to but that’s life. Then everything was looking good but I started to feel pain due to a rupture (in my lower leg), it didn’t improve so we decided to stop, which was the right decision as ultimately it brought my season to an end.

This environment is what I need to fight for my goals; at the beginning of the season we’ll look towards the sprinter Classics, Milan-Sanremo first of all, and then we’ll start looking at the Giro and the Tour. I think it will be nice to wear the European Champion’s jersey at the Giro as the Italian champion but we’ll still have to consider everything as we look at the calendar.

Other Signings include Simon Clarke, Dimitri Claeys and Kilian Frankiny

Australia’s Simon Clarke will bring excellent leadership and boost the performance goals in our team for the coming season. The 34-year-old Australian has an impressive palmares, mixing excellent ability as a road captain while also able to challenge for his own opportunities for success. The double Vuelta a Espana stage-winner, who also won the Herald Sun Tour in 2014, raced to an impressive victory at the Royal Bernard Drome Classic in 2020, while also taking two top-5 stage finishes at the Giro d’Italia. He joins the team looking to build yet further on that success in 2021.

His signing will be complemented by the experience of Belgian Dimitri Claeys, who will look to operate as significant player in our team’s Classics aspirations. The multi-talented man from Ghent was an impressive sixth at the Tour of Flanders in 2020 and will form a key part of a group that includes Giacomo Nizzolo and Max Walscheid, among others, as we fight for results.

The exciting Swiss talent Kilian Frankiny had a very strong 2020 highlighted by two top-5 stage finishes at the Giro d’Italia. The 26-year-old has excellent climbing abilities and will be looking to take the next step up in his career, while also riding in support of our team’s general classification aspirations in the biggest races.

Simon Clarke: I’m really thrilled to be taking on a new challenge with Team Qhubeka ASSOS. In one way, this is a sort of homecoming in that my father is South African and I’ve always felt some sort of deeper interest and pull towards the team. The opportunity to find out more and contribute to the amazing work that the Qhubeka Charity does is truly unique, and the South African side of my family is already pushing me to ensure that I get the pronunciation correct – so I have some work to do!

2020 has been a strange and difficult year for everyone but a highlight without doubt was my victory at Royal Bernard Drome on a day in really tough conditions. I really look forward to bringing those capabilities, as well as my leadership qualities, into the team and look forward to making it a very special year for us all. There’s already a strong core group in place and no doubt with further additions to come we’ll be competitive wherever we race.

Dimitri Claeys: I am very honoured to ride for Team Qhubeka ASSOS next season. 2020 was a strange season for all of us but my performance at Flanders, in particular, was very pleasing for me and I look forward to reproducing more performances like that next season. This team has a very special history, over a relatively short period of time, which I now look forward to not only add to but to play a part in creating the next chapter of that journey.

Kilian Frankiny: I’m very excited to start 2021 with my new team, Team Qhubeka ASSOS. I can’t wait to find out more about the Charity as I think it’s a great thing to distribute bicycles to help. I’m really looking forward to racing; a new challenge and adventures with a team that has set itself some lofty goals for the season ahead. It’s also very nice to have two Swiss brands on board in ASSOS and BMC. I know these brands already and they are exceptional, and with me being Swiss I’m really excited to go back to these two brands. I hope to, and will, give my absolute very best to fulfill the goals of the team to achieve good results and to perform at my very best in order for us to be a great team in 2021.