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".

National Elite Championship winners at Track Nationals

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.

Review and testing video on 29er full suspension Stradalli carbon mtb mountain bike Bob McCarty

A letter from Angel David Rodriguez

Hi, for those of you that don't know me very well my name is Angel David Rodriguez, I am a 10 year old from Doral, Florida that love the sport of cycling. When you see this, I will be on my way to California, to compete on a Mountain Bike XC race for the National Title. My performance will be dedicated to all the kids in this World that like me are touched by the Autism Spectrum. On Wednesday about 4:30 pm pacific time, all of you can help me with your thoughts and prayers so we, together can make this happen.
Although I am well prepared mentally and physically by may coach Filippo Barbieri and I will be riding my trusty Stradalli 650 B AKA "The Beauty". Your wishes will be the extra boost needed to get the best result possible. For some of us "Autism is not a disability, it's just a different ability"

Meron Teshome with 2nd place at ITT Nationals in Eritrea – Lechner takes great 15th in Germany

Patrick Lechner with 15^th place at André Greipel’s win in Erfurt with another good performance in a bunch sprint while Meron Teshome was taking silver medal behind Daniel Teklehaimanot.

It was the weekend where (almost) everywhere all over the world the countries were looking for their national champions. Most of them are allowed to wear those famous jerseys with the flags of their country on that everybody of the riders wants to wear throughout the next 12 months.

The nationals in Germany took place in a very old city named Erfurt. The history of this city goes back to the year 742 ac when it was first time officially named. And this city shows really a lot of this history when visiting it with its old houses and the huge cathedral in the city center. But not only the city has a huge tradition, also the German Championships do, as already so many famous names won this race and took the jersey with the black-red-gold ring on it, such as Erik Zabel, Jan Ullrich or Didi Thurau.

This time, all focus was on the two best sprinters in the world: André Greipel and Marcel Kittel. The latter was very motivated as he originally comes from Erfurt and it was his “home-race” and everything was set to welcome Kittel with the stripes after the race. But a lot of riders want to wear this beautiful jersey and the fight was on. 215 long kilometers, windy and fast. Almost 50 Kilometers on the clock for the first hour, suffering legs and hard fights for any position in the bunch. It was a real Championship. And when the end had come, it was the expected showdown in a bunch sprint final between the two giants of cycling. After a long sprint it was André Greipel who won for the third time the title of German Champion. And the young guy Max Walscheid from Giant –Alpecin left Marcel Kittel only the third place.

And what did the boys from Stradalli – BIKE AID do? They did great! They all fought a hard fight and brought Patrick Lechner in a good position and only with a chaotic final he missed a even better place than his 15^th. And also Niko Holler finished in the Top 20 with his 19^th rank.

Meanwhile in Eritrea: Meron Teshome took in a breathtaking fight with Daniel Teklehaimanot the silver medal only beaten by 34 seconds from the Eritrean hero and werarer of the polka-dot jersey in last year’s Tour de France. A great week-end for all Stradalli – BIKE AID riders! Well done!

Angel David Rodriguez is a 10 year old cyclist who competes in MTB, BMX and Road Racing. He started in motorcross at the age of 2 ½ and was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3 ½ so his father switched him to cycling. He immediately took an interest in mountain biking and has been training with Stradalli Cycle mountain biker Bob McCarty.

His parents believe that cycling has helped tremendously with his autism and Angel competes in races throughout the year. Some of his more impressive accomplishments include:

Winning the State Time Trial Championship the first time he raced a road bike

Cross Country Champ Ages 9-11

Greater than all these accomplishments is the positive attitude Angel has towards life and others with disabilities.

“Angels Racing Together” is a program his parents created where children who are in therapy with Angel are brought to some of his races to cheer him on. Before the race Angel puts the names of each child who is there on the back of his jersey and gives them any medals or trophies he wins on that day. He does this because he wants them to experience some of the joy cycling has brought him.