Rain, Cobblestones and Pure Emotions - Jean Bosco Moves up in GC

We already told a lot the last days about the incredible and enthusiastic atmosphere during this edition of Tour du Rwanda. But what happened today at the "wall of Kigali" was again much more we could ever expect.

A nation. A history. Surely not the easiest history, but what this generation of Rwandan's showed as emotion today, was much more we can even describe with words. Effusive, frenetic, even rollicking are the words we could try to describe this atmosphere today with and the fans cheered the riders on the "wall of Kigali" - an incredibly steep hill of 17% in the middle of Rwanda's capital.
Pictures that you never would expect in Germany or Europe - the so called "traditional cycling countries". But those pictures are real. The pictures in the same way as all the emotions. Not just people standing there watching an event that just passes by - no, not at all. These people are fans, enthusiastic and real fans of the sport - the sport of cycling and their heroes - the riders.
"After I worked a lot today I was in one of the last groups to save my energy for tomorrow but when I saw these people cheering us that way, I gave all I had again to climb this hill. I just felt I owe it to those people who came here, waited so long and now deserve that everybody gives the same as they did - incredible! I would love to see such pictures in Germany again", Matthias Schnapka explained after the race - obviously still flashed from such a lot emotion today.

But what happened in front of the race? Exactly one year ago it was Jean Bosco Nsengimana who won at the same place in solitude and secured the overall win of Tour du Rwanda 2015. And now? This year the dominator is Valens Ndayisenga. The man from Team Dimension Data - also Rwandan (and overall winner 2014) - climbed with an incredible performance and won the stage in front of his team mate Metkel Eyob from Eritrea.
Jean-Bosco Nsengimana finished in 8th place just 20 seconds down on Valens, and moved 1 place up in GC and now ranks 4th overall classification.
Just one more stage to go in Kigali tomorrow on a quite hard circuit race and the Tour du Rwanda 2016 will be in the books again. We are sure that the atmosphere will be great again!

Stradalli - Bike Aid Team to win Tour du Rwanda

Germany-based Stradalli–Bike Aid are very optimistic of becoming the second UCI Continental team to win Tour du Rwanda. Stradalli - Bike Aid pro cycling teams charge will be led by their Rwandan reigning champion Jean Bosco Nsengimana.

The 8th edition of the UCI-Africa Tour 2.2 race, slated for November 13-20, has been dominated by national teams since 2009 when it became part of the UCI Africa Tour, with United States-based Team Type 1–Sanofi the only UCI Continental team to have won it, back in 2011.

However, Stradalli- Bike Aid pro cycling which is among the four UCI Continental teams that will grace this year’s seven-stage showpiece, are confident that their star man, Nsengimana, who joined the club in June, can win the Tour for the second year in a row, provided he gets the support he needs from his teammates.

“For the Tour of Rwanda 2016, the goals of the team Stradalli- Bikeaid have a little bit changed; last year, we went for stage wins with Mekseb Debesay ( now world tour racer ) and Meron Amanuel. But this year, we have last year’s overall winner in our ranks and we will give him all the support we can for him to win the Tour again,” says the team manager.

"We hope that we can support Nsengimana the best way, the goals are set and the ambition is high. Seven hard days during the end of Tour du Rwanda will show us what we really can do.”

The 22-year old Nsengimana is currently training in Rwanda at Africa Rising Cycling Centre in Musanze District, along with the 15 local riders, who will represent Rwanda.

Among other competitors that will ride along Nsengimana includes Eritrean Meron Amanuel Mengstab (winner stage 2 and 6 of Tour du Rwanda 2012), Tanzanian Richard Laizer, Damien Garcia pro racer from France and Mathias Schnapka from Germany.

 Tour du Rwanda is very important for team Stradalli- bikeaid not only because we have Nsengimana, who can win it, but also because of the very special atmosphere and the huge enthusiasm by the locals and African racing overall 

This year’s edition will attract over 85 riders under 17 teams from different parts of the world. These include eight African national teams, four UCI continental teams, and five regional teams or clubs.

8 African national teams:

• Team Rwanda
• National Team of Kenya
• National Team of Cameroon
• National Team of South Africa
• National Team of Ethiopia
• National Team of Eritrea
• National Team of Egypt
• National Team of Algeria

4 UCI Continental Teams:

• Dimension Data For Qhubeka (South-Africa)
• Kenyan Riders Downunder (Kenya)
• Cycling Academy Team (Israel)
• Stradalli - Bike Aid (Germany)

Stradalli – Bike Aid’s Nikodemus Holler Places 6th In Oberhausen

With a great start to the season including strong outings in Frankfut and Belgium, the Stradalli – Bike Aid team has shown they can ride with the top teams in the world. That includes pro racer Nikodemus Holler who is having a great season.

Holler and teammate Dominik Merseburg competed in the Grand Prix of Modelstadt Ruck in a 120 kilometer long crit-race. It is a challenging race that demands a lot from the riders and thanks to the big money prizes, is always a battle. Riders from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands compete in the race.

After a really tough start, Holler showed his ability to read a race and made it up into the decisive break of the day where he was able to continue fighting on his Stradalli Bitonto full carbon road bike. An exceptional climber but not known for his sprinting it was a challenge for Holler to hang in with the lead pack. He finished 6^th in the race won by Daniel Klemme.

The rest of the Stradalli – Bike Aid were heading to another part of Germany for a race in Villingen – Schwenningen. Patrick Lechner, Matthias Schnapka Joschka Beck are joining Janvier Hadi and Jean-Bosco Nsengimana from Rwanda in the 130 kilometer road race that will be full of tough windy conditions and a strong field. The team battled and stayed around the lead the entire race with Lechner and Beck finishing 14^th and 16^th. 

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!

Recap of Stradalli - Bike Aid Success At Tour of Cameroon

Very good news from Stradalli – Bike Aid who sees it’s young rider from Eritrea, Amanuel Mengis achieve an authentic feat by winning the green jersey of the Tour du Cameroun 2016 UCI 2.2

In the final overall standings of the Tour of Cameroon the Stradalli – Bike Aid pro cycling team can be very pleased with their 4 podium finishes (including 1 victory by Jean Bosco Nsengimana in the 5^th stage). Amanuel Mengis finished 4^th place and only 1:01 minutes behind the overall leader. Patrick Lechner, Daniel Bichlmann and Joschka Beck also had strong showings. Mengis also finished 2^nd overall in the youth white jersey category and winning the green jersey , great tour for team Stradalli – Bikeaid .

The 13^th Tour du Cameroun finished Sunday with Stage 8 where riders fought to the finish to decide the outcome of several close battles for leaders jerseys and all jerseys .

Stradalli – BikeAid again placed several riders in the top 10 while working to give Amanuel Mengis the chance at victory in the general classication and the youth classification. At the finish of the race, Amanuel Mengis finished in second place in the youth classification, only 7 seconds behind the leader.

Amanuel Mengis took the youth classification jersey on the hardest stage of the Tour du Cameroun and in the process acquired many points in many different competitions of the race. He took 4^th place in the mountains classification and 4^thoverall in the general classification of the race.

Yves Beau, Stradalli – Bike Aid team director, said pressure was on all the teams to make improvements on general classification.

“Our plan before the stages was to be very active and make sure we are represented in the breakaway,” Beau said. “We were able to put most of the pressure on the Morrocan teams to compete for the GC and Amanuel Mengis brought his time gap to the yellow jersey down to just one minute.”

Though Amanuel Mengis fell short on the general classification, he won the points competition overall for best sprinter of the race and got the green jersey . The Stradalli – Bike Aid rider was in the top 10 at the finish of each stage, showing his great all around skill in flat finishes and hilly, windy stages and his great conditioning .

Patrick Lechner, Stradalli – Bike Aid rider, grabbed a podium spot on the way to helping the team fight for the general classification.

“I am more than happy and proud about today,” Lechner said. “I really wanted to win the stage, but in the end Martin was the strongest in our group and he deserves the victory. I am also very happy about the teamwork we have here at this race. That is a joy for all of us.”

Daniel Bichlmann, Stradalli – Bike Aid rider, said the roads in Cameroun threw all sorts of obstacles at them, but the team stuck together and the bikes rode great.

“Some of the roads we were on were very dangerous,” Bichlmann said. “The bikes rode and handled really well. Some teams had trouble navigating the rough roads, but we were able to just ride and focus on the race and that was key to our success.”

After great showings at La Tropicale Amissa Bongo and Tour du Cameroun, Stradalli – Bike Aid is now ranked top 10 in the world in the UCI Africa Tour. This is a huge success for Stradalli – Bike Aid and the team will travel next to race the Tour du Maroc at the beginning of April.

Tour du Cameroun – Stage 7: Another Great Podium Finish For Stradalli – Bike Aid

Patrick Lechner of Stradalli – Bike Aid finished stage 7 in 3^rd place. After Amanuel Mengis’ strong performances the goal for the race team was clearly defined, they wanted to occupy early breakaways to put the Moroccans under pressure and force them to work.

After a few attacks Patrick Lechner could settle with 5 other riders from the field. The group maintained a lead of more than 6 minutes before the field was led by the Moroccans once more.

Then a battle for the overall title and Daniel Bichlman, Joschka Beck and Jean Bosco Nsengimana did an outstanding job for Amanuel Mengis where a high pace was set on the mountain by the “man in yellow.”

But the Moroccan team worked well and were able to stay out front. It was an exciting day of racing which should decide the final top group. In the last steep part, Martin Mahdar of Slovakia attacked again and Lechner could not follow. However, he was able to secure 3^rd place and the team and sposnors where very excited and proud of him.

“I am super happy with the day, you want to win but I cannot complain. Martin was just a little stronger in the end a deserved to win. I am happy that we raced as a team and worked well together.” Stradalli – Bike Aid rider Patrick Lechner.

Also very encouraging was the 6^th place finish for Amanuel Mengis, solidifying his 3^rd place ranking in the overall standings and youth classification lead and young riders white jerseys 

Stradalli-Bike Aid Has Strong History At Tour Of Cameroon

Few years ago when the german based pro team won their first victory in the Tour de Cameroon. It began with Dan Craven getting the overall victory in 2014. Then it was Daniel Bichman who was dominant and Mekseb Debesay (now with Team Dimension Data of the World Tour) who won the overall classification of the UCI Africa Tour.

Now the Stradalli-Bike Aid team is chasing down victories all over Africa. There have been plenty of obstacles in the way but that is not going to stop this team. They have established a solid reputation amongst racers and fans in Africa.

As Jean Bosco Nsengimana and Amanuel Mengis race on their Stradalli Aversa full carbon road bikes for the Tour victory, they also rely on the help and support of their teammates during the stages. Teammates like Joschka Beck , Patrick lechner and Daniel bichelman who play a key role in the team Stradalli – Bikeaids success.

The 8 stages of the tour along the West African country are beautiful and grueling. As they ride through the mountains of Cameroon they battle tough climate conditions near the equator but they continue to battle and hoping for a overall team win .

Cameroon Diary: Daniel Bichlman

This is my third time in the West African country. I know what I’ve gotten myself into, Europe cannot compare with racing here. It literally would fill a book to try and explain the differences between the two.

After resting for a couple of hours on Thursday to heal the legs from the previous four days of ten-hour journeys from the wintry Chiemgau it was time to begin a new challenge. The stage looked simple enough on paper, only 128km of flat surface, no significant slopes and the best road conditions you could ask for.

There was no delay at the start, countless attacks and crazy initial tempo. Then after some time there was a 19 man lead group around our teammate of Stradalli-Bike Aid, Amanuel Mengis of Eritrea. Joschka Beck was also near the front and working hard to help Mengis throughout the day.

The heat was brutal and not a good thing for all of the pale European riders like myself but we did our best. It was also a challenge switching from the winter of home to the heat of Africa so quickly. In most cases the Stradalli Aversa road bikes we are riding are able to stand up to the challenge better than we are.

We raced well throughout the days as a complete team but Joschka , Patrick and I were envious of our teammates Jean Bosco Nsengimana and Amanuel Mengis because of how well they were able to handle the heat. We pride ourselves in helping them learn while racing in Europe but they are certainly the teachers here in Africa. Hopefully we can continue our progress and the next few days of racing will see great results for Stradalli -Bike Aid. 

Tour of Cameroon Stage 1: Amanuel Mengis Of Stradalli-Bike Aid In 7th Place

The cold temperatures of racing in Europe are a distant memory as the Stradalli-Bike Aid Team starts begins the Tour du Cameroun in the heat of West Africa.

The first stage was actually not too hard on the riders with fair conditions and 128 km of mostly flat terrain. Team captains Amanuel Mengis and Jean Bosco Nsengimana are used to these conditions and it showed as Mengis on the Stradalli Aversa full carbon road bike was in the lead group along with teammate Joschka Beck.

 The brutal heat took its toll on the riders, especially during the later stages of the day but Mengis continued to perform well and stay with the leaders, finishing in 7th on the day.

Stradall-Bike Aid Jean Bosco Nsengimana Wins Stage 5 Of Tour du Cameroun

Today’s 5TH stage of Tour the Cameroon, Jean Bosco Nsengimana took his first victory for Team STRADALLI – BIKE AID in 2016. 

Daniel Bichlmann, Amanuel Mengis and Patrick Lechner ended up with a amazing places 6, 8 and 9. Four racers in the top 10 at a UCI 2.2

What more can we say than the obvious. Today was not the worst day the guys had so far. That the trend went up during the last days was also obvious, but no one expected such a result or even dream of it. Four Stradalli-Bike Aid riders finished among the Top 10 and taking the stage win in solitude,  just incredible ! “It was just an amazing day today. We were all highly motivated after Amanuel’s 2^nd place yesterday and planned to put Jean Bosco in the break, because everybody was watching Amanuel now. And we did it!”, Yves Beau, the Sporting Director of the team said.

The 5^th stage led about 101 Kilometers from Douala to Kimba through slight hilly landscape. Those were the best conditions for Jean Bosco Nsengimana, the climber from Rwanda who rides for the German Pro team STRADALLI – BIKEAID since January 2016: “I am more than happy now that I took the first win on my Stradalli Aversa and im in this awesome new jersey. This means really a lot to me and makes me proud to race for our team. And the guys support for me was absolutely great!” Nsengimana said. The ambitions still remain high now, as with Amanuel Mengis and Jean Bosco Nsengimana the team STRADALLI – BIKE AID has super strong climbers and both of them are still able to win the general classification.

Today is definitely a great day for the entire team and all sponsors for team STRADALLI – BIKEAID today we have a reason to smile and celebrate 

Stradalli-Bike Aid Heads Into The Tour du Cameroun

The Stradalli – Bike Aid Conti team begins the Tour du Cameroun today as the defending champions of the race. It's a race rich in history where the team has had major success in the past.

Last year Bike Aid racer Dan Craven, formerly Team Europcar, led the team to a general classification win in the Tour du Cameroun which was one of the biggest wins in team history. Craven is one of several success stories of Stradalli –Bike Aid who will be looking to match that result this year.

The Tour du Cameroun is a UCI 2.2 race and has been a part of the UCI Africa Tour since 2005. UCI Africa is contested by the top cyclists in all of Africa and attracts many pro continental and World Tour teams as well.

Daniel Bichlmann, Joschka Beck and Jean Bosco Nsengimana of Stradalli Bike Aid are all racers who have had a great amount of success so far this season and will be racing the Tour du Cameroun in hopes of continuing that trend.

Bichlmann, who was continuously present in breakaways at the Challenge Mallorca is looking for a repeat performance at Cameroun.

"The goal for each race is to improve as a team. I am off to a good start this year but we are not a team that is top heavy. Every race someone else will have a big day, we are only as strong as the last guy on our roster but that's the team you want to be on. We all pull for each other and do anything we can to help our teammate." Bichlmann 

Beck had the most impressive outing of the year for Stradalli – Bike Aid at the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, the biggest race of the year in the UCI Africa Tour. 

“We have a great group of guys here and we battle each and every week. It's always special for us to race in Africa because we spend so much time here. The competition is always tough but we love these races and hope to represent the team well." Joschka Beck