Joseph Areruya
26 | Maxed | 530,000 | Xero since 2018

FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DH	PRL
72	79	81	65	76	78	79	53	68	76	75	60	65

@whitejersey - Thanks! Yeah so exciting to have him for all these future years. Going to be a lot of fun whatever path we take

@Ulrich - Obviously the main thing you want when raising a rider like this is just for them to be good, so when they are as entertaining to watch and animating a rider as Areruya it's a very special thing on top of the quality. Glad to see he has a fan and has made your reporting more entertaining - always love you delivering his rides and here's to many more to come

@red - Yep it's going to be a balancing act with the finances and the skillsets to try and whittle the unwieldy but high quality situation we'll have post-renewals into a promotion squad. And glad to see you agree with me Areruya hasn't found his limit yet, would trust you of most managers to get it after the monster seasons Beltran managed for you

@Abhishek - I mean when you get to see someone's quality first-hand it certainly gives you a strong opinion

@knockout - Yeah a real dark horse in the race given his hordes of adoring home fans!

Keep voting!

jandal7 wrote:
I mean when you get to see someone's quality first-hand it certainly gives you a strong opinion

@Nemolito - Fair enough - thanks again for bringing that ride to life!

@whitejersey - Interested who you mean by that

Rider = Rider's Rider, F. Rider = Fan's Rider, Y. Rider = Young Rider.

A bit of an extended list at the top with Houle, van Niekerk, Fouche and Habtemichael joining the 4+ years club. Novardianto continues to lead edging out Schomber due to the latter having one year being as a stagiaire, while both leave behind Jordan Schleck to make it only two riders remaining from our inaugural squad. Team superstars Bennett and Areruya round out the Top 5. Measuring by full seasons riding for the team itself, it's Bennett tied with Novardianto due to his year out on loan.

The top eight riders in Xero history really come as no surprise with all our leaders who spent multiple years with the team with at least one in a non-CT level being in the list. Joseph Areruya draws within 500 of George Bennett at the top, but judging by their 2022 performances he may need two years or one herculean one to pass the Kiwi - this year he lead him by 308 points, and he is trailing by 450 overall.

Hugo Houle moves into the podium spots now that he has rode for the team for as many years as Luke Rowe. Jamalidin Novardianto and Daniel Habtemichael could both reasonably expect to pass Sergio Higuita to get into the Top 10 next year - but there's only room for one.

Single-Season Record: 985 (Joseph Areruya, 2021)
PCT: 892 (Joseph Areruya, 2022)
CT: 631 (Anthony Roux, 2017)

Another way to look at the points - the year-by year scoring and progression of each rider. Particularly notable is having seven of the top eight riders together in the 2020 promotion squad - what a special team that was.

In terms of victories, though, Areruya can only make up one of the nine he needs to surpass Bennett, who now sits with almost double the next rider, which is still Anthony Roux, who had Areruya's current total in just one season! With Areruya, Bennett, and Houle the only winners for Xero this year the total remains at just 14 riders in 7 seasons to have won a pro race in the jersey - perhaps it's because there's just three sprinters on the list (though one other rider here has won a bunch sprint for us!).

Single-Season Record: 7 (Anthony Roux, 2017)

If we include non-season races Areruya makes up one extra spot to Bennett, with whom he previously shared a total of two extra-curricular victories, thanks to his win in the Rwandan RR Championship. It also allows Morne van Niekerk and Bachirou Nikiema to leapfrog from off the list into the Top 10 (the former having two peculiarities: he has 1 of each of the three types of extra races we have won, and he also won his U23 race for us before he was actually a Xero rider, when he rode for us at the Tour de l'Avenir).

Florian Vermeersch is the sole new addition to this list.

Joseph Areruya's three points classification wins in 2023 see him finally overtake George Bennett in one of these tables. Minor classifications have never been a strength of ours, particularly when you take away U25 jerseys. George Bennett may look like a shark here, but four of his five wins came from his two dominating years at the Tour of Japan where he took yellow, green and polka dots all at once. Much as he has done elsewhere, Hugo Houle makes third spot his own this year with his green jersey win in Euskal Bizikleta.

Joseph Areruya also takes the lead in terms of our highest paid riders, however this time he is not taking the spot from George Bennett, who he already had beat. In fact both him and Bennett as well as Hugo Houle are all surpassing Luke Rowe, who moves from the long-time first place here down to fourth. Shoutouts to Jamalidin Novardianto who finally claws his way into the Top 10 after seven years, and Thomas Pidcock who has risen to seventh without riding a single day for us.

Single Season Record: €540,000 (Joseph Areruya, 2021)

Anthony Roux may never be beaten here with his ridiculous efficiency in his stellar twilight stint with the team, while our other great CT leaders in Salinas, Clarke and Bennett also look well set in the top four. Bennett very impressive with his tenure and high wages, but the fact he was trained twice and didn't receive a pay rise until the subsequent year surely has a small affect (he was at just €308 after his second training year in 2020). Houle once again passes Rowe as he has done in every statistic he wasn't already leading him in, while Areruya narrows his gap to the Top 10 but still has to settle for 11th.

Single Season Record: €135/point (Anthony Roux, 2017)

A monumental moment as, by one single day, Nils Schomber overtakes Jamalidin Novardianto who has lead the count here since our first year. It was inevitable with Schomber's far higher allowance, but still a strange sight to see a new face on top of this list. Areruya and Bennett's approach to the podium is Zabel'd by Morne van Niekerk who grabs Tom Davison's long-held position of distant third ahead of them, while Bennett also passes the Rwandan who has slightly fewer RDs in his allowance these days. Nikiema, Kipkemboi and Fouche all enter the Top 10. Hugo Houle can't pass Luke Rowe but does draw level on 191 each in four seasons - rather fitting.

Single Season Record: 100 (Nils Schomber, 2019)
CT: 76 (Jamalidin Novardianto, 2016; Rei Onodera and Dylan Kennett, 2017)

One category Novardianto maintains his lead in is the all-time breakaways chart, which he always chips away at along with his amazing domestique work. With his closest challengers off the team (Higuita) or maybe never going to be in a breakaway again (Areruya) it could be an unbreakable record for a long, long time.

Single-Season Record: 14 (Jamalidin Novardianto, 2016)

Finally it's our Team HQ Rider of the Month wins, where Bennett's lead on Areruya is narrowly sliced from four to three, the Rwandan tied up with Luke Rowe, and with the help of Hugo Houle bumping Anthony Roux from third to fifth. Habtemichael and Tesfaye Heyi were the only other winners this season, each grabbing their first. Another category where Anthony Roux's 2017 might reign supreme for a long while to come.

Single-Season Record: 4 (Anthony Roux, 2017)

cunego59 wrote:
I really love those statistics, a great view of the team history. Areruya is closing in on Bennett fast on the all-time points list, two legends (perhaps one in the making). Two riders remaining from the original squad 7 years in, I'm curious who's still there for me when I get to that point

AbhishekLFC wrote:
Hell of a post! Love those stats

@knockout - Thanks Absolutely Novardianto and Bennett are huge legends for the team and Areruya firmly establishing himself on that tier too from his amazing overachievement each year while developing to now holding our two highest scoring seasons since he's maxed.

@Abhi - Thank you, and go for it! This format was stolen/adapted/built off (I really don't remember) knockout's one anyway

@Nemo - Thank you, as above feel free to use the format, just means more great history posts! Well I can say the same about a couple of your guys, though I think pre-renewals our leaders are in quite different domains which is nice. And the same to you, looking forward to it