The Trumpet Newspaper Issue 549 (July 14 - 27 2021)

Sport
JULY 14 - 27 2021 TheTrumpet Page15
Henok Mulubrhan steps up to the
WorldTour in 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.
Henok Mulubrhan
Henok Mulubrhan has signed his
first professional contract and
joins the Team Qhubeka
NextHash () 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 said:
“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 said:
“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.”
Tel: +44 (0) 7956 385 604