Guave wrote:
Naesen on cobbles, pretty sure he'll do just fine. Especially those "finisher" stats. If he can follow on the cobbles, no way he's losing it in the last couple of 100 meters. Other then that a nice sprintingsquad as well. But perhaps the thing i'm most impressed about, your -what you could call- youth division. I myself didn't have the balls to sign a lot of youngsters, but you seem to have found a very nice balance in your team!

Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:
Agree with a lot of comments above, an impressive job of covering all terrains and still finding room for some investment in youth. Congratulations.

redordead wrote:
I like the balance of your team. All terrains are covered, so you will be able to compete in pretty much every race.

The regional focus of riders on the team is also wonderful

In a final pre-season press conference, Theodore Boss and Dira Sportif met with journalists today to discuss the schedule for Bralirwa's upcoming debut season. Before diving into the full list of races, Mr. Boss highlighted a few races that are of specific importance to the team:

"There was no doubt at any point that our home race would not be the main focus for our season and roster planning", Mr. Boss says. "Mrs. Sportif and her team were tasked with securing a rider who could win that race, and we're confident Oliver Naesen can deliver. We also believe that the Tour du Faso with its three flat stages with lots of cobblestones suit his strengths very well."

Mrs. Sportif continued: "Another focus in team building was assembling a good group of sprinters. With Rüdiger Selig, Mikiel Habtom and Heiko Redecker, we're confident in our ambition to do well both in the only German C2 race as well as one of Africa's most traditional stage races, the Tropicale Amissa Bongo."

Asked about the final team standings, Mr. Boss was less affirmative. "That's not what we're going to measure our success against", he said. "Finishing in the Top 10 would be a massive achievement, and it's certainly not impossible, but our goal is to learn and develop, for us to be able to challenge for higher placements on that list in the upcoming years."

The. Boss and Dir. Sportif then went over the complete schedule for 2020:

10.01.	GP Yekaterinburg	C2HC
22. - 31.01.	Vuelta al Tachira	C2
31.01.	Great Ocean Road Classichhhhhh	C2HC

Most of the team's leaders will get their first outing in January. Ben Nasser and Khederi in Russia, where they will be supported by Ndayisenga, who in turn has his first major stage race in Venezuela. Reidecker is the sprinter there, with Selig and Habtom competing in Australia.

04.02.	Viana do Castelo	C1
06.02.	Gent - Wevelgemhhhhhhhhhhhhh	C2HC
09.02.	GP Herning	C2
20.02.	Colombo Classic	C2
22. - 24.02.	Ras Tailteann	C2
28.02.	Trofeo Laigueglia	C2HC

Oliver Naesen starts his season with three cobblestone races in a row to kick off February, followed by two more hilly classics and a stage race for the sprinters in Ireland, another chance for glory for Selig and Habtom.

03.03.	Roma Maxima	C1
09. - 13.03.	Circulo de Juarez	C1
18.03.	Le Samyn	C1
22. - 27.03.	Tour of Eritrea	C2HC
30.03.	Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurnehhhhh	HC

March holds our first of only two HC races in store, another big race for Naesen alongside Roma Maxima and Le Samyn, all of them with top competition. A well-balanced month, March also has a race for the sprinters in Mexico as well as the second stage race for Ndayisenga.

04. - 08.04.	Baltic Chain Tour	C1
08.04.	Betonexpressz GPhhhhhhhhhhhhhh	C2HC
10.04.	GP Izola	C2
24.04.	Lincoln GP	C2HC
28.04.	Lisbon Classic	C1

Mostly a month for the sprinters, plus another cobbled race for Naesen, this time in Great Britain, and a chance for the puncheurs in Slovenia.

01.05.	1 Jour de Dunkerquehhhhhhhhhhhh	C2
11. - 13.05.	Tour du Faso	C2HC
15.05.	Malopolski Wyscig	C1
18. - 20.05.	Giro del Trentino	C2
24.05.	Frankfurt Eschborn	C2

We have to wait until May for our first goal race, but then we get two in one month: First, it's Naesen for the Tour du Faso, then our triple threat of Selig, Habtom and Redig for Frankfurt Eschborn. Some other action for Naesen and a stage race with a dreaded TTT add to an interesting month.

02.06.	Hanko Classic	C1
02. - 08.06.	Tour of Vancouver	C2HC
10. - 14.06.	Post Danmark Rundt	C2HC
13. - 17.06.	La Tropicale Amissa Bongohhhhh	C2
27.06.	Clasique Pico Basile	C2
30.06.	Berlin ProRace	HC
30.06.	Clasico San Cristobal	C2

June is one of our most packed months, including our third goal race and our second HC race. Lots of races for all rider types!

01.07.	Torshavn GP	C1
11. - 17.07.	Tour de Langkawi	C2HC
16.07.	Sakartvelo Trophy	C2
19.07.	Kenya Mountain Classic	C1
19. - 21.07.	Tour of Chile	C2
23.07.	Vilnius GP	C2HC
27. - 30.07.	USA Pro Cycling Challengehhhhhhhh	C2

Some climbing for Ndayisenga in Malaysia, Georgia and Chile, one of only two chances for Christoph Mai to prove himself as a leader in Kenya, and lots of sprinting in Norway, Malaysia and the US makes this hopefully a decently successful month for us. And then there's also the TTT in Vilnius. Let's not talk about the TTT in Vilnius.

04.08.	Macskako Kerekparverseny	C1
09.08.	Rio Vista Chinesa	C2
09. - 13.08.	Tour d'Andorra	C1
21.08.	Ronde van Het Ijsselmeerhhhhhhhhhhhh	C1

Things calm down a bit in August, but after a bit of a break, cobblestones are back! For Naesen, that means a trip to hungary. Ndayisenga gets to climb with the PCT boys in Andorra and all of our sprinters come together in the Netherlands.

01.09.	Philadelphia International Championship	C2HC
10. - 13.09.	Euskal Bizkleta	C2HC
23.09.	Lillestrom GP	C2
23.09.	Transfagarasan GP	C2HC

As the season slowly winds down, we have a few more classics, something for everyone: The sprinters go to the US, the climbers to Romania and the cobblers to Norway, as well as a nice puncheur's race in the Basque Country.

01.10.	GP Kigali	C2
6. - 09.10.	Course de Solidarnoschhhhhhhhhhh	C2HC
6. - 10.10.	Herald Sun Tour	C2HC
18.10.	Zuri Metzgete	C2HC

We have to wait for the final month of the season for our big highlight, the GP Kigali. Then it's sprinters galore for the two stage races, and the puncheurs get the last race day of the year.

Mr. Boss had one final comment on two notable races missing from the calendar. "Obviously, we would have liked to represent our sponsors in the Bayern Rundfahrt and the Tour of South Africa", he said. "However, we felt ill-equipped to tackle those races and be competitive, and we didn't have any race days to spare, so we decided to leave those races to teams who could do them more justice. Hopefully in the future, we'll be able to field a good team in both of them."

And with that, the season preparation is done! Everyone at Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes is very much looking forward to the first races and we can't wait to find out what the squad is capable of.

thegoodone:
I'm so hyped! Get this season started already! I'm especially looking forward to the GP Kigali, I'll be in the first row at the Mur de Kigali for sure!

Cighclingfan420:
Yes, me too! Oh hey, we could do a forum meet-up. What do you guys think?

RonSwanson:
Count me in!

Klaus:
That is unfortunately a too long jurney for me But I wish you much fun, drink a Bralirwa for me, guys!

NdayisengaFanNo1:
lettssss goooooo! come on valens, show everyone who the best rwandan climber really is!!!

fearandloathinginkigali:
hey so what's up with that Vilnius race, I don't get that?

thegoodone:
We. Don't. Talk. About. That. Vilnius. Race!

cunego59 wrote:
Let's not talk about the TTT in Vilnius.

Fabianski wrote:

+1

The first race of season had our riders and staff heading to Russia for the GP Yekaterinburg, a C2HC one day classic. Of course, this wasn't just the first race of the season but the first race in Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes' short history. Everyone was incredibly excited, but at the same time, expectations weren't super high.

"First and foremost, we wanted to show our colors and ride aggressively", sporting director Dira Sportif said after the race. Moise Mugisha accomplished that admirably by making it into the breakaway of the day.



It was clear that this was not the way to a good end result - that task was on the team's veteran riders, most of all Hassen Ben Nasser. "I know I'm not among the top puncheurs anymore", Ben Nasser said prior to the start, "but I want to prove that I still have enough in me to contribute some points for the team here and there." And so he did.

The finale came down to a sprint from a group of 44, where Ben Nasser finished 23rd - just inside the Top 25, who receive ranking points. While this wasn't a big haul of points - just 2, to be exact -, Dira Sportif concluded: "We weren't sure where we stand in comparison to other teams in the hills. This result gives us confidence that we can consistently score in those races as well, especially considering our depth", alluding to both Souheil Khederi and Valens Ndayisenga finishing in the first group as well.



The race also served as an introduction to pro racing for our youngsters Samuel Mugisha, Simon Carr and Juan Pedro Lopez, as well as the first race as a non-stagiaire for Didier Munyaneza.

The team turns its attention to Venezuela now for the start of the Vuelta al Tachira, where Valens Ndayisenga and Heiko Redecker head our squad to hopefully score some more points.

RationalRider42:
I mean, I guess it's a solid result, but this sounds like it was a roaring success. Hope they are more ambitious in the future.

Cighclingfan420:
You gotta remember this is the team website, of course they paint it in the best possible light Still, there was a chance they get absolutely nothing from this race, and 2 points and a breakaway at least isn't nothing!

thegoodone:
I agree with both of you. For this terrain, it was decent, but we have to expect more from Reidecker and Ndayisenga coming up - I'm sure they do, too!

NdayisengaFanNo1:
dont worry, valens will slayyy!

AreruyaFanNo1:
who are you man??? copycat name!!

NdayisengaFanNo1:
no you!!!

AreruyaFanNo1:
<Message deleted: Please stay on topic>

RationalRider42:
Can we get a mod in here?

€dit: Thank you!

Carlsken Heineberg:
Beer vs Beer counter:
Carlsberg 1-0 Bralirwa

Fabianski wrote:
Congrats on your first points! Was at the same point a year ago - and got a 23rd place as well (well, tbh that was only our 2nd best rider, but it was a bit easier to do well given the season opener was C2 last year)

Looking forward to see how your season unfolds! And love the comments - let's see how many times the mod will need to call to order Areruya- or NdayisengaFan

baseballlover312 wrote:
Well, Round 1 of the brewery bash has gone to us, but it will be a long season.

Jakstar22 wrote:
Good debut for the team and nice recap. Excited to follow your teams races for the duration of the season!

redordead wrote:
Congrats on your first points

I think I've said this before, but I really like your HQ. Bringing all the quality from your reporting here as well, especially the comment section

The Vuelta al Tachira is the longest C2 stage race of the year and one of the most mountaneous, so it was not only Valens Ndayisenga's first but one of his most important season highlights. And he would show up in a big way. But first things first ...

Four of the first five stages were flat, where Heiko Redecker got his first chance as our sprinter. Unfortunately, a 10th place would be his best result. "I simply need to do better", he said after the race. "The trend was pointing up, but this is still way under my own expectations - and the team's of course, rightfully." But things weren't all doom and gloom on those stages.



Didier Munyaneza went into the breakaway on all three opening stages, accompanied by Juan Pedro Lopez twice, and he was busy collecting bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints. Unfortunately, so was Sotto il sole di Riccione' Alessandro Monaco, who denied Munyaneza the best young rider's jersey twice only by finishing position.

Still, we were very happy to be represented so often - and so well - in the breakaways. Just as they did in Russia earlier this month, our youngsters showed up. And then the Valens Ndayisenga show began.



After a calm day with a 10th place finish in the hills of day 4, Ndayisenga rode away from all other favorites two days later. It wasn't enough for a stage win, that went to escapee Lovik, but he scored some points and moved up to second overall.

Unsurprisingly, he would lose that place in the mountain time trial, but he dropped only to sixth after a 9th place on the day. But then came his biggest moment. On stage 8, he attacked on the final climb of the day, rode away from all other favorites and distanced them by 40 seconds and more! The stage win once again went to the breakaway, but his third place on the stage vaulted him to third overall.



Unfortunately, the efforts seemed to have taken a toll on him. "My legs were just so heavy", he said of stage 9. "My mind was willing, but my body just wasn't able." He ended up losing around three minutes on GC winner Pinot and fell to seventh overall, still a phenomenal result all things considered. He would defend that place on the final stage, where he was the strongest from the field - for the third time! - but had to concede the stage win to the breakaway once more, finishing fourth.

On that stage, Heiko Redecker had his best day of the race as well, finishing fourth in the peloton, seventh on the day. Janvier Hadi rode consistently throughout the race to finish 20th in the GC, rounding out an overall great first stage race for Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes.

NdayisengaFanNo1:

< Mod: Please limit yourself to three bananas ... >

RationalRider42:
Alright, I'll let you have this one

AreruyaFanNo1:
agree, deserved bananas!!!!

thegoodone:
Oh man, so close to a stage win, Valens really would have deserved one!

Klaus:
What happend to Mai? I expected much more of him!

thegoodone:
True, a bit concerning. Good to see Hadi stepping up in his place, but we have to expect more from Mai going forward. Redecker as well.

Klaus:
Yes! But the last staige was good by him.

thegoodone:
Agreed. Hopefully he'll get more opportunities on hilly terrain.

Carlsken Heineberg:
Beer vs Beer counter:
Carlsberg 2-0 Bralirwa

Warbasse finished 4th overall.

Cighclingfan420:
Close one though

Nemolito wrote:
It is great to see some peace and agreement in the comments section Ndayisenga was very present and that´s hopefully a sign for more to come, now let´s go to the February cobbles and see Naesen vs. Baugnies! (And the other cobblers, of course )

Guave wrote:
First of: this HQ is just an absolute beauty!

Russia was a hard debut for quite a few of us, so you can be really proud to be coming home with some points from there, even if they're limited.

It was pleasure seeing Ndayisenga do his thing in Venezuela. Hadi rode a more anonymous Vuelta, but ending 20th still is an achievement.

Keep it up!

redordead wrote:
Seemed like you were animating the race in every stage, very exciting and brave riding. That first win can't be far off

aidanvn13 wrote:
Valens was so aggressive and looked really strong. Thought his backup stats might hinder him, but he really only had 1 "bad" day.

Congrats on a solid result

Our third and final race in January took the squad to Australia for the annual Great Ocean Road Race. A flat classic, and thus a great opportunity for our top sprinter Rüdiger Selig to introduce himself.

After the usual breakaway shenanigans were done, the peloton prepared itself for the sprint. Bob Schoonbroodt did a terrific job in the final kilometers to keep Selig in position through some precarious situations, but then the race took an unexpected, and for us unfortunate, turn.



The protagonist of that plot twist was Gasper Katrasnik, who attacked not once but twice in the finale, and his second attack would stick, putting one over on the sprinters and taking the win.

This was doubly unfortunate for us, as Rüdiger Selig was actually the fastest of the peloton, but ultimately couldn't celebrate the victory - something we were already familiar with from Tachira. Still, we leave Australia happy with a decent amount of points and the confirmation that we're competitive on this level.

After some tumultuous months at the Bralirwa Headquarters in which the staff has unfortunately been occupied more with *gestures at general hellstate of the world* than keeping this blog up to date, the social media team is finally back. Instead of going through all the races we missed chronologically, we'll present you a review of our past three months of racing in three parts over the coming days, leading up to the team's first season goal, the Tour du Faso. Starting off today is part one, the absolute highlights.

As a team in its first year, we cannot take this for granted, and we’re all the happier that we can count not one or two but three victories in our first months of existence. The first came in early February already, with Oliver Naesen’s triumph at Gent - Wevelgem.


Our signature signing and biggest investment didn’t take a long time to pay us back. He played his cards perfectly, knew the right moves to follow and the ideal wheels to jump on and eventually beat Sascha Weber in the final sprint. Three additional rider in the Top 25 rounded out a fantastic day.

We followed that up with a few decent results that we’ll get to in another post, but the next big one came in late March. This time, our other big name signing showed up: Valens Ndayisenga. And to our delight, he did so in our first race on the African continent, the Tour of Eritrea.


On day three, the first mountain stage, Valens just barely managed to hang on to the favorites and only lose time to a select few. Maybe that was just energy smartly conserved, because a day later, on a more hilly stage, he made the jump to the decisive final group of 7. And not only that: He won the sprint from that group! With the bonus seconds, he also jumped into second place overall just a single second behind Lawrence Warbasse!


Valens held that position until the final day that had a sprint up a hill towards the finish line. Any bonus seconds would have given him the overall win, but in a very close finish, he just fell short and came in fourth. Not only that, but Juan Ernesto Chamorro finished second, tying Valens’ overall time but still passing him in the GC. So we finished a single second off the overall win and still “only� in third place. Despite this little stinger, it was obviously an incredibly successful race and more points than we could have hoped for beforehand, especially since Valens added a third place in the points classification and Rüdiger Selig showed up with a third place on stage 1.

Afterwards, it was time for Naesen to shine again in April, and shine he did. In Hungary at the Betonexpressz GP, he scored our third win of the season!


Similar to his earlier win in Belgium - although this time without any cobbles to conquer -, Naesen not only had the right feeling for which attacks to follow, he was also the only one actually strong enough to hang on to Ignatiev when the Russian made his move inside the final 3 kilometers. And when Oliver makes it to the finish with someone else, chances are he’s the quickest. And he was here as well, effortlessly outsprinting Ignatiev to win the race.

Oliver had two more highlights up his sleeve in recent weeks, where he once again proved his sprinting abilities - alas, each time, one man didn’t let it come to that.


At the Lincoln GP, a hilly cobbled race not unlike our home race GP Kigali, Oliver found himself with four other riders at the front of the race heading into the finale. But one man was simply too strong for everyone else: Carrefour’s Alexey Tsatevich rode away a few hundred meters before the finish line, where Oliver then went on to beat his other three opponents. And only a week later, the szenario would repeat itself:


At the 1 Jour de Dunkerque, another hilly cobblestone classic, it was Jerome Baugnies, the division’s best-paid cobbler, who finally lived up to his potential and rode away from the other contenders in the final kilometer. But once again, Oliver was close behind and finished second, outsprinting (again) three opponents, among them Lincoln winner Tsatevich.

And not only that. Admittedly aided by the small startlist, but nonetheless impressively, the team showed strength in depth like never before: Tesfom Okbamariam finished 7th, Bob Schoonbroodt 8th and even youngsters Houcaine El Sabbahi (12th) and El Mehdi Chokri (18th) scored their first points.

While they were no wins, these results still tied Rüdiger Selig’s second place in the Great Ocean Road Race for our third best classics finish, and they make us particularly optimistic for our win goal in Kigali later in the year.


In our next installment of our recap of the first third of the season, we’ll look at other strong results. Stay tuned!

Cighclingfan420:
Oh, we back? Nice!

Klaus:
It was about time! More Selig highlights, please!

RationalRider42:
I'm afraid there's not much there, mate ...

NdayisengaFanNo1:

whooooo! yes yes i know, three bananas tops, no need for mods here!

thegoodone:
Honestly, he's really exceeding my expectations! Great job by him!

AreruyaFanNo1:
2 great rwandans! what a time to be alive!!

Cighclingfan420:
I'm kinda surprised we don't have a NaesenFanNo1 here

NaesenFanNo1:
Thou hath summoned me?!

RationalRider42:
@Cighclingfan420 what have you done ...

Carlsken Heineberg:
I regret to inform that the beer vs. beer counter has lost track. Assume Carlsberg by 10 and you're probably not far off.

thegoodone:
Yep, sounds about right

Carlsken Heineberg:
I'm really enjoying the season though, good to see both teams doing well. Now only Aegon - Peroni needs to step it up a bit