In Cologne on the rollercoaster with the world-class – 100th edition “Rund um Köln”

For the 100^th edition of one of the most traditional races in Germany, many World Tour teams were at the start line. Together with Giant – Alpecin, Lotto – Soudal or BMC the guys from Stradalli – BIKE AID had a hard day.

The first edition of this race started in 1908 and since then the riders found the finish year by year in the city of Cologne, one of the biggest cities in Germany with a huge history and tradition. The history of Cologne goes far back to the Romans who named it “Colonia” and it was one of the major cities at the times of the Roman Empire. Lots of battles and war between Romans and Germans took place – a big history that marked all of Europe. Now, more than 2000 years later on a cloudy Sunday morning, there was another battle that took place. But this time on a different kind of battlefield with different kinds of knights using modern kinds of swords to fight. Horses that have two wheels were ridden through the hilly landscape around the city of cologne.

A battlefield with a total distance of 205 Kilometers was ahead of the “black knights” from Stradalli – BIKE AID team. Their mission: conquer the empire of the “dark Lord” André Greipel from the Lotto – Soudal kingdom.

Well, maybe the text would have been like this couple hundred years ago. Today it is more like: Continental Teams trying to present themselves among the Top riders of the World. For sure it is a fight with very different weapons, but still it is worth to fight this fight again and again. Among the best riders were names like: André Greipel (Lotto – Soudal), Taylor Phinney (BMC), Nikias Arndt (Giant – Alpecin) or Sep Vanmarcke (Lotto – Jumbo NL). And what was the plan of the guys from Stradalli – BIKE AID? Well, to put a tiny guy from Eritrea in the middle of the sprint. So far so good. Meron Amanuel, a very fast guy has to sprint against the best of the world. And all other riders would have to protect him and keep him out of all the wind and trouble that can happen during such a long race.

The plan went well, until 30 kilometers to the finish line, when Meron’s back tire punctured in a very bad moment. All that effort for nothing? No, we still had Niko to make an impact. And the small climber made it with his 55 kilos to the top 20 again, among all those sprinters. But he is a very smart guy who knows how to keep position and that led to 17^th place at the end.

A great race, a nice day and an awesome city! Thanks a lot Cologne and see you next year!