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Showing posts with label Stradalli - Bike Aid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stradalli - Bike Aid. Show all posts
While Meron Amanuel took with his 7th place today another Top Ten result for STRADALLI - BIKE AID, the Rwandan Jean-Bosco Nsengimana stays in reach for the GC with just 1:27 down on leader Valens Ndayisenga
It is called the "country of the thousand hills" and that has a reason. Every day the guys have to fight with endless kilometers of uphill roads and suffer a lot on Rwanda's roads. While the African riders from Rwanda and Eritrea dictate the tempo in the hills, the European riders have to work very hard to follow them.
STRADALLI - BIKE AID rider Jean-Bosco Nsengimana knows the roads very well and is every day in the top of the race, so he currently ranks 4th in the GC with just 1.27 minute down on Valens Ndayisenga - also from Rwanda. The upcoming days will bring dramatic fight for the GC where Jean-Bosco will definitely have a word to say until the race finishes on Kigali's roads on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Meron Amanuel could show an impressive final today and sprint to a good 7th place when Rwandan rider Joseph Areruya took the stage win.
On today's first stage
of Tour du Rwanda, Meron Amanuel from STRADALLI - BIKE AID took the lead in
climbers classification while Jean-Bosco Nsengimana now ranks on 3rd in GC with
1 second behind.
After
96,4 hilly kilometers from Kigali to Ngoma, the Canadian Guillaume Boivin from
Cycling Academy Team won the final sprint out of a 19 man front group that
managed to break away 30 kilometers from the finish. Also in this group,
STRADALLI - BIKE AID leader Jean - Bosco Nsengimana who came in with the same
time and now sits on 3rd place overall with just 1 second down. "Now
it is a perfect situation for us and Bosco, as the gap is just 1 second and the
responsibility to control the race is on the Rwandan team, so we can be relaxed
and wait for the right time", Yves Beau (Sporting Director of STRADALLI - BIKE
AID) said.
The
Eritrean Meron Amanuel won the only KOM of the day and overtook the leaders
jersey that he will wear on tomorrow's second stage.
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.
Just over a week before the World Championships team time trial, in Doha, Qatar, Daniel Bichlmann found out he had gone from first reserve to a member of the six-man Stradalli-Bike Aid team for the TTT.
But before he could even think about flying to the Gulf, he needed to get the time off work from his boss first. She could hardly say no to a shot at cycling’s annual blue-riband event.
“She’s been so awesome about this,” Bichlmann says. “She was like: ‘I’m happy for you, but you have to work hard after the world championships.’ I think I still owe her some hours. So, after the Worlds, there is no more time for holidays!”
Bichlmann is a part-time chimney sweep in his native Germany, getting up at half-four in the morning for a twelve-hour shift that involves lying on roofs to clean industrial stacks with long brushes. “You get dirty, really dirty,” he says.
He got into the profession on the advice of former Six Day racer Michael Haase. It is hard work, but because it is part-time by German law, it gives him opportunities to trade his black boiler suit for lycra and race for German UCI Continental squad Stradalli-Bike Aid.
They are globe-trotters, competing in Europe, Asia and Africa, with a specific mission to support African riders; Bichlmann rode alongside Eritrean rider Meron Teshome in their World Championships line-up.
If you’re looking for a good news story amid the WorldTour TTT boycott and criticism of the oppressive Qatar heat, this is it.
“You know the movie Cool Runnings? That’s what we are, more or less,” the Bavarian says, referring to the cult film based on the adventures of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
“For the WorldTour guys, it’s like daily business; they go to the Worlds every year. For me, it’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
“When I was young, I always had these posters from the UCI World Championships on my bedroom wall. Maybe I can make it onto one of the posters in another kid’s room now.”
Bichlmann dreamed of being a top-level racer. He was on the same junior team as John Degenkolb and had an offer to turn pro with Austrian Pro Continental team Elk Haus, which he refused.
“It was the best decision I ever made,” he says. “Well, to be honest, my mum made it. She told me ‘after you get a job, maybe you can do whatever you like for two years.’ I’m pretty sure if I had signed that contract, I wouldn’t be riding now.”
Since joining Bike Aid in 2014, Bichlmann has enjoyed taking the long, exotic route to the World Championships, racing in countries such as Cameroon, China and Colombia. “You realise that you can’t win the Tour de France, that you can’t become world champion.
“But there’s more to cycling than that. Cycling is such a passion. All this travelling, learning languages, meeting people, it’s so nice.”
Bichlmann (l) and Stradalli – Bike Aid training in MallorcaFor Stradalli-Bike Aid, a third-tier squad with no full-time mechanics and a small budget, Sunday’s 40-kilometre team time-trial was like David’s baby brother squaring up to the WorldTour Goliaths. Most of the team holds down a job alongside racing; Bichlmann’s team-mate Joschka Beck is a university student in Kaiserslautern.
Bichlmann and company went all out and finished in last place, seventeenth out of 17 teams, 7-24 behind winners Etixx-Quick Step. But it didn’t matter one bit.
“It’s the pleasure of being there. We take it seriously and do our very best, but it’s not about where we finish… it’s rolling down this start ramp and the dream coming true.”
This year's UCI Road World Championships will be held in Doha,
Qatar. And STRADALLI – BIKE AID will be in the middle as the team receives
official start allowance from UCI for Team Time Trial.
It sounds again like crazy news or April's fool, but it is true
and real. How can it be that a „small team“ goes to the official UCI World
Championships and even more: how to try to challenge the „big guys“ from the
World Tour such as BMC, SKY or Tinkoff?
Yes, indeed: we have been surprised the same way But we already
received the confirmation from UCI in July, so we had enough time to prepare
ourselves how we can announce this awesome news. It is a great honor for us but
at the same time this opportunity means also a huge responsibility for the
team, the riders and all involved people.
Yes, the guys from STRADALLI – BIKE AID will be for sure
the underdogs and the most important thing at this stage so far is sure to be a
part of the World championships and that we made it there, but on the other
hand everybody is highly motivated and ready to fight with all he has to
achieve the best result possible. Six riders will represent the team colors of
STRADALLI – BIKE AID besides the best teams in the world.
Also our partners and suppliers were the same way excited as we
were when we told these news and there was not just one second of hesitation to
support us a little extra for this event.
„This event is a real big thing for us and means a Lot .„ STRADALLI - BIKEAID Manager
Given the fact that we actually are a small professional team with
limited budget and based on great sponsor and the cycling community we never
could imagine that we could take all these steps from winning UCI Africa Tour
to participate as a team in the UCI World Championships . We can not
achieve more with the given budget“.
In 2016 Many top 10 results in races of UCI category 1 and HC
but also lot of podium places were taken this year. The best result so far was
for sure Meron Teshome's 2ndplace on stage 11 in Tour of Qinghai
Lake (UCI 2.HC) but also Nikodemus Holler delivered many strong performances
with good results in the GC in Tour of gabon (UCI 2.1), Ireland or Tour of
China. KOM Ireland jersey.
Nikodemus Holler raced with a constant performance to a great 7th place in the GC of Tour of China while Meron Teshome finished two times Top 10 in the sprint.
Everybody knows what large country China actually is. But not many of us could imagine how big it really is. Allthough we knew that with its 1,4 billion people China has almost 20% of the world's population, it was hard to realize what that means in reality. People where everywhere you look, cars everywhere and just crowded places one after another.
While cities as Berlin are already huge in our middle European understanding, it is not worth to talk about small towns like this in China. It starts with 10 million people to be a city. And when you land in a city named Chongqing, you start to understand that this is just another dimension of everything.
Chongqing – the biggest city on this planet has a surface of 83k square kilometers – the same as whole Austria (a country in Europe) – but with 4 times the population of Austria, 32 Million inhabitants. Awesome, insane or whatever you want to name it. Just unbelievable.
A normal day at this Tour was a little bit the same as at every other stage race so far, but just longer with everything, except the race. Wake up early morning, had breakfast and hed to the race start. 4 hours of racing and then a short shower followed by 6 to 7 hour transfer by bus. Yes, indeed, transfer by bus as the distances in this tour are also unbelievable. On two days the organizer preferred to put the riders and teams into airplanes for transfer as the distance between the cities was about 2.400 kilomterers .
Translated in European way of thinking: race in Frankfurt, transfer to Rome by Bus, then next day flying to Portugal for race and after transfer again to north of Spain. Awesome!
But the riders of team STRADALLI – BIKE AID were highly motivated to show another good stage race and play an important role both in GC and also in the daily sprints of this race that is ranked in UCI category 2.1. While Meron Tehsome finished two times Top 10 in the sprint of stage 1 and 5, Nikodemus Holler also performed well in the mountain stages with his 5th place on stage 3 and 9th in stage 4 that took him to the 7th place in the GC at the end of the race.
Both of the riders got great support from their team-mates who worked really hard to put them in position or defend the position in the GC by chasing down dangerous break-aways or just destroy the break in the beginning. Cycling is a team sport and without a team behind a captain it is nearly impossible to achieve good results. That's what makes a team into a team, to act together, to suffer together and to ride one for all, all for one without any compromise.
„It is really great to see, how the guys sacrificed themselves for me to keep the opportunity upright for me to take this great result in this hard race. I am so proud to have them on my side and that this year this special team spirit is in the team“ Nikodemus Holler said after the final stage.
Meanwhile, Tour of China II is on the run, with mainly flat stages in this second week in a country that is so unbelievable and unique.
We will have updates soon for part II
Our boys from Stradalli - Bike Aid pro cycling team trying to drop Andrè Greipel the Gorilla at last weeks night Crit in Germany. Not an easy task.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Hot weekend with great success for team Stradalli - Bike Aid in Germany
Patrick Lechner wins regional championships in hill climbing and Dominik Merseburg takes 2nd place in Lingenfeld Crit race! It was the hottest weekend of the year, with temperatures about 38 degrees Celcius but the guys from Stradalli - Bike Aid successfully beat the heat. While Patrick Lechner won the regional championship in hill climbing on satruday with a superb ride about 32 km per hour for 6 kilometers, Dominik Merseburg could prove that he is still in good shape and ready for Tour of China in 2 weeks In a dramatic crit race on sunday afternoon in Lingenfeld, he and the team fought again aginst the experts in crit-racing Team Möbel - Ehrmann. After much effort and a dramatic final, Dominik had to let Simon Nuber take the place on the top of the podium but the team was very happy with his 2nd place: "the team worked really hard and well together for me today. It was a very hard fight with the guys from Ehrman and especially Simon Nuber and in the end he is a legend in crit-racing and for sure deserves to win. But I am very happy with my 2nd place today", Dominik Merseburg said after the race. Under the watchefull eye of Tom Steinbacher, CEO and owner of Stradalli cycle, it was also Justin Pfaff from Florida who could do his first kilometers of racing in Europe as a new comer for Stradalli-Bike Aid pro cycling team . Justin also will be racing Tour of China in 2 weeks for the team as his first professional UCI stage race.
Again to China -
STRADALLI-BIKE AID receives invitation to tour of China (UCI 2.1)
Just back from China, it is
time to prepare the bags again. STRADALLI – BIKE AID Procycling team receives
invitation to this year's Tour of China in September.
After the team achieved many
good results at this year's Tour of Qinghai Lake (UCI 2.HC) in last month, the
guys can look forward to travel again to China. The organizing committee of Tour
of China send an invitation to the 14 stage Tour of China that leads through
that huge country in far east. The race is categorized in UCI class 2.1 and
contains many sprint stages but as well couple of very hard mountain stages.
„We are very happy to
receive this invitation to another high ranked and well organized stage race in
Asia. This invitation shows also a kind of proof of our latest results and
progress we did with this team. We are also sure that we will play again a good
role especially in the sprint stages with our Sprinter Meron Teshome from
Eritrea“ Yves Beau (one of the sporting directors) explained.
The race takes part from
September 09 to September 25. Grand Start is in Tianjin near Beijing.
After
Meron has already showed the last two days with 2 times top 10 that he
is in a promising shape, the whole team was motivated to step up with
great results on today's stage. Knowing about the strength of the fast
man from Eritrea, the team wanted to support Meron with no comprimise.
In
the final of the stage the team led Meron out in a perfect position to
start his sprint and he finished with a great performance only beaten by
Jakub Mareczko from Italian Procontinental team Wilier Trestina. Marko
Kump from World Tour team Lampre – Merida completed the podium on place
3, who already won 2 stages of this year's Tour of Qinghai Lake.
After
taking this great result, Meron Teshome said with a big smile on his
face: "today was a perfect day. The whole team comitted yesterday to
work very hard to bring me in a good position and the guys did a great
job. In the end I had the pressure to finalize the good work and to
finish 2nd in such a big race with such great sprinters is just
awesome".
At This year's race edition of Sibiu Cycling Tour, ranked
2.1. category in UCI calendar, led over a prologue and four stages with a lot
of high climbing in the middle of Transylvanian mountains in Romania.
The guys from STRADALLI – BIKE
AID did a great job throughout the entire week and proofed their ability to act
as a real competitive European top pro team.
On stage 1 it was Nikodemus Holler
who took the place of the selected sprinter Patrick Lechner as he couldn't make
it in the bunch to the finish line due to several technical issues , broken
chain then after chasing back a flat front tire blow out on a fast decent
.
In the massive fast sprint Niko
showed that he is a very smart pro racer and finished on 10th position not bad
for a skinny GC guy next to the big sprinters.
The goal was to ride for Niko as a captain in the GC and the team showed that this should not only be a plan. As a
13 man break went away in the beginning of queen-stage number 2 over 213
Kilometers with a 15k finish to the top of a ski mountain , the gap increased
rapidly as no team wanted to do the work of controlling the bunch.
After the gap still increased and
reached 11 Minutes, the guys from STRADALLI - BIKE AID took over the
responsibility and chased the group down to six minutes at 40 Kilometers to go.
But then a shock: crash! Niko Holler! His rear derailer is broken and also his
knee injured! After a hard fight try back to the group and several times of
stopping due to his pain, Nikodemus Holler finished in the last group and
remained in the race with his 2 team mates helping to bring him slow but save.
All the hard work for nothing ?
No, he didn't want to let the work
of his team mates being unpaid and fought back on stage 4 with another great
7th place. The whole team showed a good performance and the will to ride for
his captain without a doubt. Only the crash has left a little scratch on a good
picture of the week in Romania.
Florent Horeau is one of the Stradalli - Bikeaid
pro team ,
Director Of Sportive guys , with years of experience working with some of the
top cyclists in the world and is now offering his services to pro and amateur
cyclists in the United States. His online coaching will help you to become the
best cyclist you can be. Email him for low rates and Stradalli discounts, French,
spanish or English speaking.
Florent Horeau is a Top UCI Director Of Sportive
and Certified Coach with an impressive resume
With a massive sprint final and the perfect help
of his team mates, Patrick Lechner proved his good shape and sprinted to 6th
place on today’s stage at Tour of Ireland.
It was the longest stage of the tour today, with
188 kilometers from Mullingar to Charleville through the heart of the Emerald
Isle. To participate at The RÃ s is always very special. This race is more than
just a normal stage race. It has the character of a big tradition in Ireland
and it seems that everybody celebrates The RÃ s when it rolls through the
villages.
Also the Irish county teams are every year more
than motivated to fight against the professional teams from Europe and give the
best they have to make the race as hard as possible for them. Couple of times
this also leads to nervous and hectic race and leads to crashes from time to
time. And you can believe: to get down on Irish roads hurts like hell, as the
asphalt is very hard and not friendly to skin and bones. This is also what
makes this race so unique and special!
Today’s stage had all what it needs to have an
interesting race day. It began very fast and hectic. The peloton did 51
Kilometers during the first hour and one attack was followed by the next as
there are also many young riders who are very motivated and aggressive. After a
while a 2 man break away made it and reached a gap of 7 minutes until the pack
started to bring them back. Road racing is not a kind of mathematics where you
can always calculate everything, as there are so many influences why things are
as they are. Road racing is such a complex sport and we all love this pure kind
of sports. In the end the two guys could take a couple of seconds to the finish
and fought among themselves for the victory. Behind them the real race went on.
Sprint preparations, positioning and fighting for every centimeter. That is
what it is about when the pack arrives to the finish line.
The Stradalli – BIKE AID boys did so well today.
It needs a lot of teamwork to be successful as a rider. Especially in the
sprint you need to rely on your team mates. When you ride alongside your
competitors with couple of millimeters of distance, speeding up to 70 kph and
fighting with all you have your teammates make all the difference. It is scary
to think about. In the last kilometer nobody really takes this in mind. Today
it was Nikodemus Holler who brought the guys in position and Joschka Beck was
leading Patrick Lechner out to the final sprint. One by one they all did a good
job and just a crash in front of them avoided more. Patrick sprinted to 4th
place of the pack and reached 6th place on stage result!
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 6th 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 14th and 16th.
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
To many in the cycling
community Bike Aid is a large group of cycling enthusiasts with a professional
German race team sponsored by Stradalli Cycle. However, the backbone of the
group, the teams, the racers and everything that is Bike Aid is charity work.
This week the charitable efforts of these amazing people were in plain view as
dozens of new bikes were donated to refugees and youth in Blieskastel, Germany.
Thanks to the savings
association Saarland eV and many other contributors including Stradalli Cycle,
many young people were able to receive these brand new mountain bikes to enjoy
and use for transportation.
Bike Aid does
considerable charitable work in Eritrea, Africa as well as other parts of the
world. They raise money and awareness for war-stricken areas of Africa and give
hope and opportunity to many of the residents of the community.
“You’ve all probably
heard about the success the team has had in bringing young African cyclists to
Europe and giving them an education as well as an opportunity to have a real
career in pro cycling. That’s great but what about the people who aren’t going
to be pro cyclists? They need help as well and when you visit these communities
or meet with some of the young men and women from there it is very humbling
because you hear their stories and you are amazed at how positive an attitude
they have and how much they enjoy life. That’s why I was very happy to help in
any way I could.” Stradalli Cycle CEO Tom Steinbacher
It wasn’t long before
the young men and women were riding their new bikes over to the local BMX race
track. Bike Aid does outstanding charitable work all around the world, specifically
working with refugees of many countries in Africa as well as Syria. If you
would like to contribute to these efforts please contact Stradalli Cycle.
