The 24-year-old finished eighth overall at the 2016 Tour de France and seventh in the Men’s Road Race at Rio 2016 before signing for the UAE outfit.

Speaking at the launch of the team last week, Meintjes said: “It’s a new start. It looks like there are a lot of enthusiastic people. It’s always great to be part of a group like that. Hopefully we can take the story and make it a success.

“I just want to be the best I can be. It’s an international sport. It’s just so hard. It’s really hard to say you want to achieve a specific result. If I can finish my career and look back and say I’ve taken every opportunity that was given to me then I will be happy.”

The former MTN-Qhubeka rider is joined on the new team by 2015 Abu Dhabi Tour stage winner Andrea Guardini, Slovenian Matej Mohoric, Italian duo Filippo Ganna, Rui Costa, and UAE rider Yousif Mirza.