Nsengimana Still in Reach - Tour du Rwanda

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.

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 to UCI Road World Championships in Doha

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.

Team Time Trial is a huge invest in equipment, as it is a lot about aerodynamics etc. The challenge was also to adapt all of our equipment for this special demand and without any question the partners like STRADALLI CYCLE  (TT – frames), Citec (disc – wheels) or Bollé (TT helmets) or Biehler Sportswear with the new developed high tech TT suits jumped on our side and did their utmost to make all this come true. So our riders will definitely look fast when they will climb the starting ramp in Doha.

„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 2^nd place 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.

The team currently holds a special training camp in Bad Salzhausen to finetune the technique for team time trial. On Monday October 3^rd the last race in the Europe Tour will take place for the team at Münsterland Giro with guys like Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish or André Greipel before the riders and staff fly to Doha on next Wednesday

Tour of China

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.  

Team Stradalli-Safetti Pro Cyclist Jose’ Frank Rodriguez

Team Stradalli-Safetti Pro Cyclist Jose’ Frank Rodriguez (Rep. Dominican

Republic) has been on one amazing ride. A Journey which began 2 years ago where he placed 3rd at the UCI Paralympics World Championship held in Greenville, SC. But the story doesn’t start there. Back In 2002 Jose’ was involved in a near death life changing car accident where his leg was badly crushed from the knee down.

A difficult decision, left Doctors almost having to amputate his Left leg from the knee; but with amazing medical technology they were able to save his leg while although still badly scarred and with limited movement; he still and has learned to be a top level pro cyclist with this handicap and still capture countless podium finishes with Non-handicapped riders all over the world and country. A testament to his hard work and a positive attitude; by not letting this otherwise life changing accident keep him from achieving his dream of bringing home a Gold medal for Team Stradalli-Safetti and his country at the Rio’ Paralympics Games in 2016.
Competing in roadrace , track and Time Trial , maybe its 3 podiums. He still has one big race left on his calendar which he considers“training”. The Clasico Cayey in Puerto Rico, August 17th-22nd   after

that it’s back to the D.R for some Intense Mountain Training and other local races from August 22nd to September 3rd. Then he will travel over to Brazil, September 7th-18th for the Rio’ Paralympics Games; which will be his final challenge to bring home the Gold Medal.

We will keep you updated on his success as we follow this travels.

Meron Teshome with great 2nd place on stage 11 at Tour of Qinghai Lake (UCI 2.HC)

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".

The guys from team STRADALLI – BIKE AID

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.

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! 

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Last stage of An Post Rás – Holler defends climbers-jersey

Stage 8 of An Post Rás (UCI 2.2) in Ireland was the last stage of a wonderful and successful race during the last week. With his 13th place today, Nikodemus Holler seals the win of KOM – jersey on his Stradalli Cycle Bitonto full carbon road bike.

A week full of stress, fighting, suffering and much more has now been left behind. Such a stage race always keeps very special and unique challenges for the riders. And it is not only the pure racing that makes it hard, it is also the psychological part that is a real challenge to everyone.

Not only are the riders concerned it is also the staff that has to bear a lot of the stress and suffering too during such a tough race. Lot of tasks have to be done in a very accurate way but in a short amount of time as the whole pack is moving every day from A to B. Waking up early in the morning, preparing bottles (about 40 per day), food, equipment, tactical briefing and many more. Then race time, pure stress. After the mechanics take their space to clean and service all the bikes and wheels and the physios trying to let the riders relax. Lot to do before the last one turns the light off.

In such conditions and with that amount of stress, it is barely important that the people involved in such a tour have a good relationship and are able to maintain a good mood together during the whole time of the race. If you are inside of all this, you often do not realize the real meaning of what everybody brings in and sacrifices to make the whole thing working. But when you take a step outside of the box and look on all these details, you quickly realize that everybody in a team I a hero on his own way with his own experience and with all he or her does. Just awesome what all people have to bring together that it is possible to bring a team to the start line.

And when all these sacrifices, all this passion and suffer from everybody leads to success at the end, there can be not much more feelings that are better. And tonight the guys from Stradalli – BIKE AID surely deserved it to have a brilliant evening with a lot of fun, as the whole week can be seen as a success.

8 hard stages left behind, lot of stress and hectic, suffer and fight and today it was all about bringing the jersey home. And maybe to have a good sprint for Patrick Lechner again at the end of this 8th stage in Skerries. Unfortunately Patrick got involved into a bad crash in the final lap and his opportunity to do another good result was gone. So it was finally all about bringing Niko’s climbers jersey home. He finished 13th again and finally won the climbers classification and took 10th place in GC.

Congratulations also to Clemens Frankhauser form team Tirol who won the GC of this year’s Rás and who really deserves it! Well done to all of you guys! Now we wish you all a good way back and hope for another great adventures!   

A day in the break – superb ride brings Holler closer to the overall win in KOM classification

With his awesome ride today in the break, Nikodemus Holler gained more points for the KOM classification and just needs one more point on tomorrow’s last stage of An Post Rás (UCI 2.2)

Sometimes it is the best way to defend, when you attack. But in cycling you don’t want to throw out all your cards too early on the table and attacking the others also brings many risks. But sometimes you get forced to do it by the action of your competitors and you can forget all your plans that you made before.

On today’s penultimate stage of An Post Rás in Ireland, the plan was actually to stay together with the other favorites for the GC and to have a showdown at the last climb of the day – ranked in category 1. But before the first climb there was a break going with the biggest competitor for Niko in the KOM classification and he had to react immediately. So he made his way to the break before the first climb and from there on Niko showed an incredible performance. Winning all KOM’s until the last climb and when his fellows started to fatigue, he took his way alone. He literally put all his cards on the table and now forced the others to react.

Unfortunately the Australian National team had different plans and put all effort to chase Niko down and fight for the GC themselves. In the middle of the cat 1 climb, the Aussies closed the gap with only 5 guys together and an incredible speed. Of course it is the most difficult moment when you get caught in the middle of a climb having already many kilometers of break in the legs.

Despite all efforts and incredible fight, Nikodemus Holler could not follow the Aussies anymore and took his own rhythm. After the decent he fought with another group to come back but when they arrived to the finish they missed by only 56 seconds. Niko finished on 13th place, but made again his way to the podium to receive “his” mountains jersey. 

On tomorrow’s last stage he needs just one more point to take this beautiful jersey home and also to finalize a superb week of great racing in Ireland!

Fingers crossed, and never forget the GC 

Holler increases lead in KOM classification – 2 days to go to Dublin

With his 14th place and even more points in the KOM classification on today’s 6th stage of An Post Rás (UCI 2.2) in Ireland, Nikodemus Holler could successfully defend his mountains jersey and still ranks promising in GC.

Actually it should be a day without lot of trouble and a little bit more calm as the previous days. That’s what the riders were thinking. But in reality the stage was again very hectic, nervous and fast in the beginning due to lots of attacks. With 158 kilometers and “only” 3 KOM climbs of category 3 it was not a very hard stage, but at the end it’s the riders who make the race hard. And in the Rás there is no real day to rest or to let you hang around in the pack, as you always have to keep the tension and concentration.

Luckily the “joint-venture” of TeamTirol and Stradalli – BIKE AID succeeded after a while to control the race to make it a little more comfortable for their captains as there is a real day of fight waiting for the guys tomorrow.

At the end of the stage Nikodemus Holler could manage to reach the finish again with the other favorites and keep his promising position in the GC with only 10 seconds back of yellow. In the KOM classification he could increase his gap to 18 points to the second position.

“I still feel very good in the climbs and just didn’t want to invest too much today, as tomorrow will be another hard and probably the decisive day for the GC. But it was also important to me, to win another points for the KOM classification, as this jersey is so beautiful and I want to keep that until Dublin”, Nikodemus Holler described his day.

In the morning before the stage there was some bad news the team received: Joschka Beck couldn’t start the stage as he fell sick and got a fever during the night. We wish him all the best!

Niko Holler extended his lead in the King of the Mountains classification at UCI 2.2 An Post Ras today during Stage 6 through Eastern Ireland.

Stage 6 was not as mountainous as the previous several stages, but it still provided opportunities for the climbers of the race to compete for points on several categorized climbs. The race was hard enough to split the field down to only 50 riders, but the fast flat finish meant Stradalli – Bike Aid team chose to focus on protecting the general classification and king of the mountain classification position held by Holler instead of contesting for the win.

This week at An Post Ras has been about riding as strong as possible as a team to prepare for Qinghai Lake, the most prestigious race on the UCI calendar in Asia. Holler has confirmed all season is ability to lead the team in top level UCI races.

Stradalli – Bike Aid riders Joschka Beck, Patrick Lechner, Damien Garcia and Janvier Hadi have been riding solely to protect Holler and give him the opportunity to chase big wins at An Post Ras. It has been a full team effort to shield Holler from the wind and ensure he makes the front group during every stage of racing. It is very difficult to win a leader’s jersey at a race like An Post Ras, but the goal is very achievable.


Holler still remains 10 seconds away from the leader’s jersey and with several hard stages left the team is going to try everything in the book to gain the lead in the general classification and build on the lead in the King of the Mountains classification.


An Post Ras continues tomorrow with Stage 7, 155 kilometers from Dungarvan to Baltinglass. There will be 4 opportunities for King of the Mountain points. 3 category 3 climbs come early in the race, but the big ascent of the day comes at 110 kilometers. Mount Leinster will give the general classification riders the last opportunity to sort out the overall and the Stradalli – Bike Aid team is looking forward to their defense of the King of the Mountains jersey.