17/09/2024

Merhawi Kudus returns to professional peloton with Burgos! - "I'm looking forward to a chance to show my potential"

It was a shock when no team opted to give a chance to Merhawi Kudus at the end of last season. But instead of giving up, the 30-year-old buckled up and racing for Malaysian top continental team Terengganu, he showed everyone the kind of rider they missed out on. Burgos-BH didn't hesitate, and after a stellar season offered the Eritrean two-year contract in the Spanish PRT team.

Perhaps related to the visa issues along with two mediocre seasons in EF Education-EasyPost jersey, it's possible to see why Kudus ended up without a professional contract at the end of 2023. But we must understand that the Eritrean, who previously raced for Dimension Data and Astana, spent a lot of time working for his teammates and thus had limited options to score his own result.

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Stepping down to continental level for 2024, Kudus still felt like he had something left to prove in cycling and went on to have an impressive streak of results to - in 54 race days - finish only six times outside the top-25 (twice DNF and once relegation). His stand-out result was the second place overall at the Tour of Turkiye. in Asian Tour he also took 2nd overall at the Japanese Tours of Kumano and Japan, while his only individual victory of the year came at the Indonesian Tour de Banyuwagi Ijen, known for its queen stage climb with extremely steep slopes.

Racking up well over 500 UCI points, teams that are starving after those quickly took notice of Kudus and with his wealth of experience with nine Grand Tour starts, it's a safe bet. Burgos-BH can see him as a replacement for their main UCI-points scorer of this season, the departing Kiwi Aaron Gate (to Astana).

"After a good season with the Terengganu Cycling Team, I am very happy to return to the professional peloton next year with Burgos-BH. I am very grateful to have received this opportunity. I am very excited and looking forward to joining the team to show my potential," the Eritrean said in a press release.