South Africa’s cycling team MTN-Qhubeka will be one of the participants when the 78th Tour du Suisse gets underway on Saturday.

The nine-day event is expected to be highly-competitive with many of the riders using it as part of their preparations for the Tour de France.

“The Tour of Switzerland is an incredibly important race for Team MTN-Qhubeka,” Team Principal Douglas Ryder said.

“The Tour of Switzerland is the fourth-biggest stage race in the world of cycling. It has huge media coverage around the event.

“It is one of the final preparation races for the big teams in terms of the Tour de France, and so it was critical for us to get into that event.

“We’ll bring a fantastic team there, because it is the kind of event that suits our riders. It’s very hilly and it’s good for our African and European riders.”

MTN-Qhubeka will be using the using the Tour du Suisse to fine-tune their tactics ahead of the Vuelta a España, which is one of the three Grand Tours alongside Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

“In the first few days, we’ll look for Gerald Ciolek to potentially win a stage because he can really get over the mountains and the smaller climbs,” Ryder said.

“Going towards the end of the tour, the last two stages, which are mountain-top finishes, we’ll be looking to Sergio Padilla, Linus Gerdemann and, obviously, Louis Meinjties.”

The 69th edition of the Vuelta is set to take place from 23 August to 14 September.