Stradalli – Bike Aid take wins at German Elite State Championships

Stradalli – Bike Aid sent three riders to the German Elite State Championships this past weekend. A field of 130 riders from all regions of Germany lined up in Kassel Wolfhagen to compete for the title of their respective State regions.

Matthias Schnapka, Joschka Beck and Patrick Lechner fought through the hills and wind of Germany to bring home incredible results in a race which only saw 50 riders finish.

Inevitably, due to the wind and hills, a breakaway would slip away with Matthias Schnapka of Stradalli – Bike who would win his elite state championship title for 2016 Saarland .

Patrick Lechner drove the race hard from the beginning, allowing Schnapka to take advantage of the breakaway when the opportunity was presented. Though Lechner missed the breakaway because of his hard work, Lechner would still place second in his respective region’s championship in Rheinland Pfaltz.

Joschka Beck of Stradalli – Bike Aid also brought home a strong second place finish against riders of his region who are noted for being exceptional racers at higher levels. Joschka placed second in the Hessen state.

Stradalli – BikeAid pro cycling team recently returned to Germany after a large block of UCI racing in Belgium. The German Championships attract the best riders in Germany, but the UCI level racing truly brings the Stradalli – Bike Aid riders to another level. Racing against World Tour teams all season has taught the Stradalli – Bike Aid riders many lessons, but their fitness is reaching new levels allowing them to win at the UCI level.

The team has brought home podiums consistently in the UCI Africa Tour and was fighting in breakaways in prestigious races such as Challenge Mallorca and Vuelta Andalucia. Vuelta Andalucia is notorious for being one of the hardest early season stage races in the year and the Stradalli – Bike Aid riders still competed in breakaways throughout the duration of the race.

2016 has been an exceptional year so far for Stradalli – Bike Aid. The team is currently preparing for Tour of Qinghai Lake, the most prestigious race in the UCI Asia Tour. The success in the German Elite Championships gives the riders and management confidence Tour of Qinghai Lake will be another successful tour on calendar of Stradalli – Bike Aid pro cycling team

Stradalli – Bike Aid today raced UCI 1.1 Dwars door de Vlaamse Ardennen, a hard 179.6 kilometer one day race starting and finishing in Erpe – Mere, Belgium.

The race runs through many famous climbs in Belgium. Though Belgium is noted for being flat, this particular race covers 14 well respected climbs. It is a race similar to many of the Ardennes Classics, which are consistently won by the best climbers in the world.

Stradalli – Bike Aid showed a full team and put their top finisher, Niko Holler, in the front group and well positioned to compete for victory. The extremely hilly race would see only 77 of 196 starters finish the race and Holler pulled an amazing result finishing 22^nd and matching his result at UCI 1.HC Eschborn – Frankfurt last weekend in a field against top level riders such as UCI World Time Trial Champion from Etixx – Quickstep Tony Martin. BMC, Lotto – Soudal and Orica – GreenEdge are just a few of the top level organizations which sent riders to compete at Vlaamse Ardennen.

The team will continue its European campaign with the goal of performing at peak capacity for Tour of Qinghai Lake in July.

Pictured above is Niko Holler who looks a lot fresher in this pic holding princess than he did after today’s race. 

Stradalli – Bike Aid Team Dominant On Their Adopted Continent Of Africa

It’s funny how things work out. The Stradalli – Bike Aid team from Germany loves to race in some of the most beautiful locations in Europe. Their trip to Spain is a great example as they raced in Mallorca and saw some of the most amazing sites in the world. But there’s only one place this team truly feels at home and it is the last place you would expect.

Africa is the adopted continent of the Stradalli – Bike Aid team as their charity efforts have helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to help young African cyclists realize their dream of becoming pro racers. The program has so many success stories but the one thing people weren’t sure of is if it would lead to wins and podium appearances for the race team.

Not only is the team off to maybe it’s best start ever, but they are dominating races throughout Africa and it continued this week at the Tour of Eritrea. But it’s not just the Germans who are doing well. Of the 6 young African racers on the team, 3 of them are from Eritrea and all have either won or placed in the top 10 already in this early season. This includes Amanuel Meron who rode his Stradalli Cycle Aversa full carbon road bike right to the podium in the Tour of Eritrea already.

Amanuel is joined by teammates Amanuel Mengis Ghebreindrias, Meron Teshome and German riders Dominik Merseburg, Daniel Bichlmann and Matthias Schnapka who all have experience riding in the heat of Africa. Great teamwork is the reason for the early season success of Stradalli – Bike Aid, however, it is also a great reminder of the hard charitable work put in by the organization. When you have 3 stellar racers return home to Eritrea and perform the way these young men have you know that the program is working and the efforts are paying off. 

Tom Stradalli, CEO of Stradalli Cycle, and the Stradalli - Bike Aid Team have spent the week 
preparing for Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn - Frankfurt. This UCI 1.HC race is one of the toughest races in 
Germany and attracts many World Tour teams. 
Eschborn - Frankfurt past winners include Alexander Kristoff of Team Katusha and the legendary 
Erik Zabel of Team Telekom. 
The Stradalli - Bike Aid Continental Professional Team will use the Aversa carbon aero road frame 
for this weekend's race. The guys are coming off some great wins and podiums at the Tour of Eritrea and are 
ready to continue their European UCI racing campaign.

Stradalli – Bike Aid Continental Professional Team has been on a hot streak the past few weeks in Europe and Africa.

Stradalli – Bike recently travelled to the Tour of Eritrea, where they not only took many podium places, but finished off a successful week by taking home the green jersey with Amanuel Meron for the best sprinter competition. The team worked flawlessly throughout the week to position their sprinters to give them the best possible chance at stage wins.

Though the team did not win every stage, the team was the most consistent giving them the reward of the green jersey in the UCI 2.2 Tour of Eritrea. This was a huge success for the team.

Immediately after the finish of the Tour of Eritrea, the team returned to Germany to prepare for the upcoming UCI 1.HC Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn – Frankfurt. The team has been participating in races around Germany to and most recently put two riders on the podium the Uberherrner National German Professional race, the team’s opener for Eschborn – Frankfurt.

Eschborn – Frankfurt is one of the toughest races in Germany. The previous edition was won by Alexander Kristoff, classic specialist from Team Katusha who has won Milan – San Remo and The Tour of Flanders.

Former winner John Degenkolb of Giant – Alpecin will make his return to racing at Eschborn – Frankfurt this Sunday after recovering from injuries suffered from a terrible accident whilst training in Australia early in 2016. Degenkolb, who won Milan – San Remo and Paris – Roubaix in 2015, has been off the bike since January and enters Eschborn – Frankfurt with the intent of finishing the race.

The 27-year-old from Gera, East Germany has been with Giant – Alpecin since it was in its professional continental form, Argos – Shimano in 2012. Since he has won 10 stages of the Vuelta a Espana and several important spring classic races. Argos – Shimano was also the home for our recent podium finisher Niko Holler. Holler and Degenkolb were teammates in 2012 and will race together this weekend again at Eschborn – Frankfurt. Since 2012, Holler has grown to be a team leader and challenge the general classification in UCI races all over Europe, Africa and Asia.

Eschborn – Frankfurt will be televised throughout Europe this Sunday and will feature other UCI World Tour teams such as Etixx – Quickstep and AG2r La Mondiale as well. Stradalli – Bike Aid will use the carbon aero Aversa frame exclusively for this race. The temperatures in Germany have been freezing and below for the past week, which means the racing this weekend will see the riders compete in some of the toughest, snowy conditions Germany has to offer.

Rain, Snow, podium and barbecue – an interesting first race for the guys from Rwanda in cold Germany at pro race 

Nikodemus Holler and Janvier Hadi convinced despite horrible weather conditions with place 2 and 3 at the team’s home-race in Überherrn.

We all know that in April there is a special situation with our weather conditions here in Germany. Due to influences from the wind we can have warm conditions (if we have south winds) or get all the cold weather from the Nordics and polar area (with winds from the north). For sure everybody hopes that the wind will always blow from the south but unfortunately we all got disappointed that day. A drop of 20 degree celcius compared to only 2 days before and also a mix of snow and rain should make this day unforgettable for the two guys who just arrived from Rwanda that week. Thankfully their Stradalli Cycle Aversa road bikes have performed amazingly despite the different weather conditions the team has faced.

Janvier Hadi and Jean Bosco Nsengimana. Two young riders, who come from the same small village in Rwanda and both of them know perfectly when it rains, as it sometimes rains a lot in Rwanda. But there it just feels like taking a warm shower while here they felt like sitting in a freezer. Due to this situation they had to learn quite quick that in Germany are couple of seasons, even if we should not have this kind of low temperature anymore. And at the end it should also have an impact on the race, as it was impossible for Janvier Hadi to eat enough as he couldn’t move his fingers anymore, as he told later after the race.

But at the beginning the impact should be not really visible as he took the chance and went into a break-away right from the start of the race, accompanied by his team mate Nikodemus Holler. Nikodemus just arrived 15 minutes to the start with his fancy VW Polo that let him suffer a little bit due to a technical problem but finally bring him safe and sharp to the start. Just in the bib-shorts and also shoes and jersey and off to race! Obviously Niko had the right level of adrenaline due to this incident and went also directly in that break-away that should work together quite well and stay out until the end of the race.

As the deciding moment arrived it was at the hill to Rammelfangen where the two guys from Stradalli – BIKE AID split the break again. After Nikodemus’ attack it was only Fabian Genuit and Janvier Hadi who could follow and made 3 out of 8. A perfect tactical situation for the team, as they had two out of 3 riders in the front.

But Janvier should feel the impact of the cold weather now in the final lap as he could not follow anymore after another raise of the tempo in the climb. So he got a small gap to the two guys in front and the perfect situation became a little bit worse as all knew Fabian was the better sprinter. So Nikodemus tried all he had to drop Fabian but he was staying on his wheel and took his chance to win in the final sprint.

Short after them it was Janvier Hadi who arrived at 3^rd place only couple of seconds behind. A great first race for him in Europe and especially with these conditions he is not used to. Congrats to him!

Also great performance by Nikodemus and the whole team to made an impressive race on this day. After this suffering all the riders well deserved an awesome barbecue with the BIKE AID community and letting an incredible day come to the end together!

Stradalli – Bike Aid wins stage 2 of the UCI 2.2 Tour of Eritrea.

The 179 kilometer stage from Tesseney to Agordat featured significant elevation change, but that didn’t deter the peloton from riding hard. Attacks started as soon as the riders left the start line. Stradalli – Bike Aid controlled the race with excellent teamwork throughout the day.

After Amanuel Meron’s podium finish in stage 1, the team knew he could provide a result. Amanuel Meron would be the most protected rider throughout the day due to his high general classification placing. Meron Teshome, however, is the better sprinter.

The two riders worked together to shepherd themselves in a fast final after a tough day of racing. Meron Teshome took the win, proving his sprinting ability at the highest level. Amanuel Meron followed closely behind in 3^rd place giving Stradalli – Bike Aid two riders on the podium of stage 2 of Tour of Eritrea.

The Eritrean riders have special motivation to race well in their home country, but the entire Stradalli – Bike Aid team and their management are working hard to ensure success at the Tour of Eritrea. Many of their riders are native to Eritrea and it is the place where the Stradalli – Bike Aid mission of creating a better future for those who are less fortunate began.

The Stradalli – Bike Aid team is currently using the full carbon Aversa frame because of its ability to perform well under a variety of conditions. The Tour of Eritrea will feature technical roads, fast sprint finishes and high mountains.

The Tour of Eritrea continues tomorrow with Stage 3 from Keren to Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. The stage will cover 93k, but it is mountainous. This stage will be the first opportunity for the real climbers of Stradalli – Bike Aid to show their talent.