We presented our first leader - our most expensive free agency aquisition - yesterday, now it's time for the second: He was our #1 target this transfer season and we are very glad to have gotten him early in the window before the race for climbers really heated up. Nonetheless, he is our most expensive transfer of the year. Joining us for a fee of 400,000€ from Repsol - Netflix, it is, of course, none other than Valens Ndayisenga!

We would also like to take the opportunity to introduce you to two other signings we have recently made - Souheil Khederi and Jonas Rutsch.

Valens Ndayisenga

4.100

26yo

Climber

€80.000

As one of the three best Rwandan climbers, or arguably riders full stop, we knew that we had to bring Valens on board to lead our team in the mountains. Not only is he great on long climbs, but he is also really good on shorter or more uneven ascents and packs a decent punch. Neither his time trialing nor his stamina or resistance are anything to write home about, which limits his ceiling, but he comes at a wage of just 80k and is only 26 years old, meaning he has a lot of time left in his prime and potentially the opportunity to be trained further.

The aforementionent frenzy for great climbers both in free agency and in transfer deals will mean a very tough competition for Valens in all races he'll enter. We don't expect him to compete for win after win after win but, as is becoming a trend with all of our veteran signings so far, we hope that a steady string of good results accumulates to an eventually worthwile season.

Souheil Khederi

4.100

29yo

Puncheur

€50.000

With Tunisair as a sponsor, it was imperative for us to sign at least one Tunisian and we're very happy that we got arguable the best one. Khederi, who joins us for a fee of 50,000€ from ISA - Hexacta, is a good puncheur who can also climb longer mountains well, a sought-after quality these days, and has a solid acceleration. His backup stats may not be amazing, but we hope that he can get us some results here and there. As our best puncheur at this point, he should get lots of opportunities.

Jonas Rutsch

1.00

22yo

Puncheur

€50.000

Our fourth talent signing this year is Jonas Rutsch. The young German enters the professional scene as a good cobblestone prospect, looking to become a powerhouse on flat roads, with the option to spec a bit into hills as well. Both his nationality and his specialisation fit very well with our team, nonetheless it's possible that either he or Houcaine El Sabbahi may be loaned out for cap reasons. If you have some salary cap left and are looking to cash in by getting a little fee, don't hesitate to contact us.

Following Valens Ndayisenga and Souheil Khederi, we made three more transfer deals that we would like to present today. None of them will fill leading roles for most of the season, but they are versatile riders who provide important depth on multiple terrains and are good enough that they might get chances to ride for themselves on occasions as well.

To be able to make these investments, we took on a couple of young talents to get compensated for helping with their development. While they will be one-year riders only for us, they can still be contributing factors for our team, so we would be remissed not to give them a proper introduction.

Janvier Hadi

4.100

28yo

Allrounder

€50.000

Lauded by some as one of the best minimum wage riders around, we are very happy to be able to add Janvier Hadi to our growing contingent of Rwandan cyclists. For a fee of 210,000, he joins us from Puma. With the exception of cobblestones, Hadi will be support on any terrain and surely find opportunities to shine for himself.

Bob Schoonbroodt

4.100

31yo

Sprinter

€50.000

Continuing the trend of versatility and - comparatively - big spending, Bob Schoonbroodt joins us from PT team Generali for 250,000. He is instantly one of our best puncheurs but, crucially, is also very solid on cobblestones as well. With great backup stats, we hope to see him perform well all year.

Tesfom Okbamariam

4.100

29yo

Cobbles

€50.000

Tesfom Okbamariam will be Naesen's primary backup for cobblestone races. Solid flat and resistance stats make him an all around good supporting rider and at a fee of just 50,000, we think he will provide significant value, possibly scoring quite a few points for himself as well.

Our biggest chunk of income during the transfer window came from taking on Juan Pedro Lopez' entire wage after Desigual signed the young Spaniard for 100,000 in free agency as well as charging an extra fee for development. We're looking forward to working with him to grow his skillset and sending him back to Desigual better than he came to us.

In a double deal, Simon Carr is on loan from Desigual as well, splitting his 50k wage equally but still taking a sizeable fee for extra development. Like Lopez, he knows his way around the mountains and hills and while there is of course no pressure on either of them to bring in results, we hope they can have their moments in the upcoming season.

Our final loan-in rider this year was not signed to acquire a fee, but simply to provide utility at a moderate wage. Our second deal with ISA - Hexacta this year, he joins us to improve both our time trialing and our cobblestone squads and as a support rider on any given flat stages.

We will have one more update ahead of the draft, at which point we will reveal our full post-transfers squad. We're looking forward to the moves we will be making until then. Stay tuned!

Our full team will be presented after tonight's CT supplemental draft, but we have two more regular signings to present. While admittedly they were deals on short notice and not originally in our plans, we're happy to have them and expect them to contribute meaningfully. Adding to our depth at sprinter, and strengthening our puncheur department, here are Heiko Redecker and Hassen Ben Nasser:

Heiko Redecker

4.100

30yo

Sprinter

€85.000

Heiko Redecker joins us for a fee of just 100,000 from cycleYorkshire to become our second-highest paid rider of the year. He complements our other sprinters nicely, adding an option for slightly hilly courses that we didn't have previously, outside of Oliver Naesen.

Hassen Ben Nasser

4.100

34yo

Puncheur

€50.000

Our final free agent addition is gives us three things: another rider representing secondary sponsor Tunisiair, a much-needed addition to our squad for hilly races as he joins compatriot Souheil Khederi as our best puncheur, and lots and lots of veteran leadership. At 34 years, Hassen is certainly past his peak physically, but we hope he can still deliver a few points here and there.

With the draft already almost upon us, we will wait with a detailed presentation of the team, as well as a recap of and thoughts on our first transfer window, until tomorrow.

Bjartne wrote:
Two very nice last minute signings there, and nice with another Tunisian!

I do hope that he rides like a 34 year old though. I've lost way too many points to Ben Nasser over the last 7 seasons

jandal7 wrote:
Very cool to see some veterans of African cycling finding a home here, and very nice signings too

The MGUCI affords continental teams two riders on wage-less contracts via the CT Draft. This was our final opportunity to shape our 2020 roster and it was clear from the beginning that we wanted to use it to expand our share of local riders from Rwanda - so that's what we did:

Adrien Niyonshuti

4.100

33yo

Climber

€0

From the moment we began planning the team, there was never any doubt that Adrien Niyonshuti would end up on the roster. A trailblazer for Rwandan cycling, he will serve as inspiration and a role model for our young talents, but he still has enough left in him to be a valuable dometique for Valens Ndayisenga as well. Whether this turns out to be his final season or not, his career comes full circle as Adrien is more than deserving of one last rodeo with the first professional team from his home country.

Didier Munyaneza

1.28

24yo

Puncheur

€0

Nine years Niyonshuti's junior, Didier Munyaneza joins our talent development program, but in contrast to most other youngsters on the team, this is not his first professional season. He rode as a stagiaire for Tryg last year and impressed the team enough to earn a full contract, but - luckily for us - fell victim to salary cap concerns. Similar to Samuel and Moise Mugisha, he will not develop into a superstar, but it's riders like those three that will build the foundation for the Rwandan-based future of Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes.

The transfer window has officially closed, so it's time to give you a full picture of the inaugural team of Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes. To give you a better insight into the squad's strengths and weaknesses, let's go terrain by terrain:

One of our main goals this season was to bring in a top tier cobblestone rider. It remains to be seen if Oliver Naesen can fill this role. His pure cobbles stat lags behind that of many other top riders in the division, but his good hill, sprint and backup stats might be enough to compensate. He has decent support around him though, that's for sure.

Valens Ndayisenga was another main transfer target we managed to get on board. He's not among the elite climbers of the division, but with decent support, he will hopefully represent our colors well.

On paper, this might be our strongest department, and it's pretty well-rounded, too. Selig as the pure speed guy, Habtom for long flat races and Redecker for hilly ones. None of them can claim absolute favorite status in any one race, but they should be able to combine for some solid points.

Eventhough you can count Bob Schoonbroodt here as well, this is still our weakest area. But our two Tunisians are in play for at least some Top 10s to Top 15s, so we'll see how much we end up with here.

This might be our most important piece of the squad. While Lopez and Carr only join us on loan from Desigual for one season, the other five could be key pieces for years to come - Rutsch on Cobbles, El Sabbahi in sprints and the Rwandans on hilly terrain. This is also where we have to invest if we want to build a team that can sustain itself in higher divisions while still having a core of Rwandan riders. It's going to be a long road, but we're willing to be patient.

	Rider	Type	AVG	Age	Wage
	Valens Ndayisenga	Climber	74,64	26	€80.000
	Janvier Hadi	Allrounder	73,01	28	€50.000
	Adrien Niyonshuti	Climber	71,94	33	€0
	Moise Mugisha	Puncheur	67,12	23	€50.000
	Samuel Mugisha	Puncheur	66,85	23	€50.000
	Didier Munyaneza	Puncheur	65,90	24	€0
	Souheil Khederi	Puncheur	73,56	29	€50.000
	Hassen Ben Nasser	Puncheur	73,37	34	€50.000
	Mikiel Habtom	Sprinter	74,83	29	€60.000
	Tesfom Okbamariam	Cobbles	73,93	29	€50.000
	El Mehdi Chokri *	Allrounder	70,21	23	€25.000
	Houcaine El Sabbahi	Sprinter	68,67	22	€50.000
	Heiko Redecker	Sprinter	74,52	30	€85.000
	Rüdiger Selig	Sprinter	74,97	31	€50.000
	Christoph Mai	Climber	73,45	32	€50.000
	Jonas Rutsch	Cobbles	68,67	22	€50.000
	Oliver Naesen	Cobbles	75,19	30	€250.000
	Bob Schoonbroodt	Allrounder	73,51	29	€50.000
	Simon Carr *	Puncheur	67,88	22	€25.000
	Juan Pedro Lopez *	Climber	67,56	23	€100.000
	* = Loaned In	Average:	71,49	27

It is probably human nature to weigh the 20% of things that didn't go particularly well heavier than the 80% that did, and with the insight into transfer window dynamics we have now, we would have done a few things differently. There is no denying that there's a large Uwizeyimana-shaped hole in this team and the uncertainty over his signing hovered over us the entire window, which led to a few missed opportunities.

That said, we still managed to achieve many of our goals. Ndayisenga and Hadi are key to our Rwandan core. Selig, Habtom, Khederi and Okbamariam are strong riders from our focus regions on cheap contracts and transfer fees. Our age structure is intact: Only Mai and late additions Ben Nasser and Niyonshuti will decline after this year, and only Selig after the next, giving us a good schedule to incrementally improve the team and eventually make a promotion push.

And maybe most importantly: We learned a lot, and we had pretty much unanimously positive interactions with our fellow managers. The hype for the season is building, but already we're looking forward to next year, to implement our lessons and continue to shape and improve this team.

Croatia14 wrote:
Fantastic presentation, very cool team with great leaders in Ndayisenga and Naesen especially, and also a very well-thought take at the very end. I like it a lot, and I think with smart planning disband-promotion or even more should be possible.

Fabianski wrote:
I think you did a fantastic job building up a team from scratch! When I compare with mine last year.... well, I guess you're a better manager
And just saw the wages of Selig and Habtom - real steals Beware of renewals, though

Will be fun to see the Selig vs Reinhardt sprint duels! I don't know if we'll meet very often besides the manadatory races, though, as cobbles and mountains are no focus terrains for us this year...

Good luck, and enjoy your first season

AbhishekLFC wrote:
Great squad challenging on all terrains this season, with hills being the only possible outlier. That said, Ben Nasser is known to pull off surprises!

Look forward to going up against you in races. See you there

the_hoyle wrote:
Great looking team - shame there wasn't enough room on the team for Hategeka or Nzeke... Hategeka had his bags packed and was dreaming of going home early in the transfers

Nemolito wrote:
I might be the exact opposite of Fabianski, sending my team mainly to cobbled and mountain races Therefore I guess we will meet quite a lot. Looking forward to racing against you, and I hope (and firmly believe) you'll do a great job with this team and have a very fruitful project going on!