Tanja Erath will make her debut appearance with the German national team when she starts Lotto Belgium Tour tomorrow, Tuesday 4 September.  The 2017 CANYON//SRAM Zwift Academy winner has impressed national coaches with her first season as a professional cyclist and is set to show off her strengths in the national team colours.

“Tanja has shown surprisingly good performances at the recent German track championships (Erath won the silver medal in the scratch race and placed sixth in the individual pursuit). I want to see for myself how Tanja races on the road in the team, and also to see what the best preparation is for her to take part in the winter track season,” said German national coach Andre Korff.

The four day stage race in Belgium, a UCI 2.1 tour, will be Erath’s seventh stage race for the 2018 season. And she couldn’t be happier to represent Germany.

“After many unforeseen things that happened in the 2018 season, racing for the national team for the first time is just another awesome opportunity that cycling, the Zwift Academy, CANYON//SRAM Racing and now the German federation have given me,” said an elated Erath.

“When I was doing the Zwift Academy last year I was thinking only that I could be racing for CANYON//SRAM. I never entertained the idea of racing in the German national team.”

“I’m looking forward to racing in Belgium. I hope I can use the knowledge I gained so far this season to contribute to the team result,” added Erath.

Almost 5000 women are right now taking part in the 2018 CANYON//SRAM Zwift Academy. The graduates will be narrowed to ten semi-finalists, and later to three finalists, who will join CANYON//SRAM Racing at its December training camp, the winner taking home a professional contract for the 2019 season.

Erath is allowed to race for the German national team since her trade team, CANYON//SRAM Racing, isn’t racing the tour. The stage race starts with an opening 3.6km prologue tomorrow in Nieuwpoort, Belgium.

Erath will next race for CANYON//SRAM Racing at Tour Cycliste Féminin Internazionale de l’Ardeche in France from 13 to 18 September, 2018.

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