Date: Monday, 08 October 2018
AFPThe Eritrean Merhawi Kudus wears the shirt of Astana in 2019. The 24-year-old climbing talent leaves Team Dimension Data after three seasons.
"Kudus is a very young and ambitious rider and I'm curious how far he can make it into professional cycling", says Alexandr Vinokourov, manager of the Kazakh World Tour Team. "He is a climber but also has qualities in time-driving. This is an asset to our core in the big rounds. At the same time Merhawi has to find his way in the peloton. At Astana he has the time to grow and show himself. "
Kudus was at the start of the Tour of Spain for the fourth time at the end of August. In it ended the reigning Eritrean champion as 31st. A few weeks earlier, he finished seventh in the Tour of Burgos.
Last year, Kudus was second in a Vueltarit (after his new teammate Alexey Lutsenko). In 2017 he also won the youth jersey in the Tour of Oman, in which he finished fourth at 58 seconds from Ben Hermans.
KOERS KORT. Eritreeër Kudus ruilt Dimension Data voor Astana ...Astana manager Aleksander Vinokoerov is happy with the transfer: "Kudus is a very young and ambitious rider, and I am very curious how far he can make it."
"He is a climber with time-trial abilities, he is an asset to our core in the big rounds, but he also has to find his way in the peloton and at Astana he has the time to grow and show himself."
photo: Muscat Municipality / Paumer / Kåre Dehlie Thorstad
Eritrean Merhawi Kudus has signed a contract with Astana. The 24-year-old climber comes over from Dimension Data. He signs a one-year contract with the Kazakh formation of Alexander Vinokourov.
Vinokourov is also happy with the arrival of the African. "Kudus is a very young and ambitious rider and I am very curious how far he can come as a cycling professional. This is a rider who will strengthen our big round-team. In addition, I think that at Astana he has the time and space to develop and show himself ", says the big boss of Astana in the press release .
