In the second part of our early season recap (read Part 1 here), we turn to the results that weren’t the most extraordinary, but still very good. And while Oliver Naesen makes another appearance, the most beautiful thing about these races was that the guys from the second and even third row, especially some of our youngster at the beginning of their development, stepped up and collected points and time in the spotlight.

But we’re starting off with our more established riders and staying on cobbles, where we’ve been the most successful all season. In Portugal, the Viana do Castelo seemed promising at first, as it was a hilly cobblestone race – Naesen’s favorite terrain. Problem was: The cobbles were on the downhill sections.


And for some reason, that wasn’t at all to Oliver’s liking. But while our leader had a bad day, his lieutenant Bob Schoonbroodt had a great one. He finished in the second group on the road, which was good enough for sixth place, ahead of some elite cobblers like Vanspeybrouck or Altur.

A week later, and with his first win at Gent – Wevelgem to give him some confidence, Naesen was back on his feet. On the flat streets of the GP Herning, he came to the finish in the first group, usually a great opportunity to make use of his superior speed. But this time, his opponents got the best of him. He had to go into the wind more than a kilometer out and that was too much even for him. Still, he collected a solid fifth place. And then, our youngsters started to show up.


Heading to Sri Lanka for the Colombo Classic, we didn’t expect too much. Souheil Khederi and Hassen Ben Nasser are our guys for these types of hilly races, and while always good for a surprise, usually they are no match for CT’s elite puncheurs. And they weren’t again on that day, but it did not matter, as viewers saw one of the rarer occurences in pro cycling happen: a one-day race that was won by an early breakaway.

And lucky for us, one of our Rwandan talents was in on the move. Moise Mugisha couldn’t beat some of the more experienced riders in the group, and he’s not the quickest anyway, but his fifth place exceeded what we would have expected all season from him.


Samuel Mugisha made history for Bralirwa – Stevens Bikes in late February, somewhat by accident. On stage 1 of the Ras Tailteann, the breakaway was reeled in rather early, with one intermediate sprint still to go. Working for Mikiel Habtom, who would eventually finish fourth on the day and 22nd overall, he led the peloton while no sprinter wanted to contest the points. And those three seconds he collected there were enough to hold onto the white jersey all the way!


A few weeks later, the team flew to Mexico for the Circulo de Juarez. We had decent hopes for Rüdiger Selig to perform well in the sprints, but that was unfortunately not in the cards, not even close – a 19th place was the best he could do. But we still had a highlight! Didier Munyaneza showed why we had the confidence in him that Tryg didn’t when they cut him for cap reasons in the off-season.

On stage 1, he went into the breakaway and won both KoM sprints of the day. Four stages and many KoM sprints followed, but no other rider was able to match his points! He even led the young riders rankings for most of the race, eventually finishing second in that classification.

It’s been a pleasure to watch our riders grow even over this short period of time. We hope it’s just a taste of what’s to come. In our next installment, we’ll take a look at the less glorious moments of the past few months. We’ll keep that one a bit briefer. For all our sake’s.

Nemolito wrote:
Obviously Naesen is the big man here, but from a roleplaying perspective it's great to see Mugisha get those results, would love to see my guys get a similar result Just like me you spilled five race days in the Baltic Chain Tour, but Naesen's impressive performances as well as your depth results definitely put you in the top-5 of the CT now

For the final post to get back up to date, we take a look at the first two installments of the CT Rankings. The first one came in late January already after we had participated in just three races. And considering our season goal of a Top 10 finish, we were right on pace:

Pos		Team	Total
1		Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team	181
2		Philips	178
3		Project: Africa	171
4		Centovalli - Fiat	167
5		Los Pollos Hermanos	145
6		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	139
7		Carrefour - ESPN	130
8		Tryg - Ritter Sport	127
9		BNZ Cycling Team	101
10		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	93
11		Team Europcar	79
12		Sauber Petronas Racing	78
13		Guave's Sunlight Cycling	73
14		Sotto il sole di Riccione	69
15		Strava	50
16		Trans Cycling Team	42
17		Eddie Stobart	31
18		Nordica - Enel	26
19		McCormick Pro Cycling	23
20		Glanbia Foods Cycling Project	12

The bulk of our points came from Valens Ndayisenga's solid performance at the Vuelta al Tachira and Rüdiger Selig's second place at the Great Ocean Road Race. This is represented in the individual rankings as well:

Last	Rider	Nat		Team	Total
1	Thibaut Pinot	FRA		Project: Africa	136
2	Joshua Edmondson	GBR		BNZ Cycling Team	81
3	Gasper Katrasnik	SLO		Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team	72
4	Wilco Kelderman	NED		Philips	72
5	Theo Reinhardt	GER		Centovalli - Fiat	70
…
11	Rüdiger Selig	GER		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	50
18	Valens Ndayisenga	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	35
65	Janvier Hadi	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	5
87	Hassen Ben Nasser	TUN		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	2
100	Heiko Redecker	NAM		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	1

Two riders in the Top 20 was a great snapshot at this point and it was nice to see a little bit of depth scoring behind them. But we still had some room for improvement. Because the second update included all races through the end of March, where Oliver Naesen really got going and Valens scored his most points yet in Eritrea.

Pos	Last		Team	Total	RD	PpRD	Proj
1	4		Centovalli - Fiat	636	44	14,45	2168
2	2		Philips	520	37	14,05	2108
3	6		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	515	37	13,92	2088
4	7		Carrefour - ESPN	476	34	14	2100
5	5		Los Pollos Hermanos	432	49	8,82	1323
6	8		Tryg - Ritter Sport	428	46	9,3	1395
7	10		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	418	44	9,5	1425
8	1		Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team	382	45	8,49	1274
9	13		Guave's Sunlight Cycling	257	47	5,47	821
10	3		Project: Africa	254	36	7,06	1059
11	9		BNZ Cycling Team	248	32	7,75	1163
12	11		Team Europcar	224	36	6,22	933
13	19		McCormick Pro Cycling	184	43	4,28	642
14	15		Strava	179	35	5,11	767
15	14		Sotto il sole di Riccione	170	35	4,86	729
16	17		Eddie Stobart	158	35	4,51	677
17	18		Nordica - Enel	155	31	5	750
18	12		Sauber Petronas Racing	151	26	5,81	872
19	16		Trans Cycling Team	137	29	4,72	708
20	20		Glanbia Foods Cycling Project	115	39	2,95	443

That got us to seventh place and even fifth in projected points behind the Top 4 who at this point already seem like a lock for promotion. We're not getting carried away, though: For us, it's still all about securing our spot in the Top 10 and we're on a good way there.

Pos	Last	Rider	Nat		Team	Total
1	4	Wilco Kelderman	NED		Philips	225
2	5	Theo Reinhardt	GER		Centovalli - Fiat	223
3	36	Jerome Baugnies	BEL		Los Pollos Hermanos	223
4	1	Thibaut Pinot	FRA		Project: Africa	166
5	20	Lawrence Warbasse	USA		Carlsberg - Danske bank	152
...
8	18	Valens Ndayisenga	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	127
18	125	Oliver Naesen	BEL		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	92
36	11	Rüdiger Selig	GER		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	56
44	129	Bob Schoonbroodt	NED		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	44
81	137	Moise Mugisha	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	20
107	126	Mikiel Habtom	ERI		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	10
108	138	Samuel Mugisha	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	10
137	65	Janvier Hadi	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	5
143	127	Tesfom Okbamariam	ERI		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	5
171	87	Hassen Ben Nasser	TUN		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	2
191	100	Heiko Redecker	NAM		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	1

Not least because of some great scoring from our second and third tier riders. Bob Schoonbroodt, Moise and Samuel Mugisha, Mikiel Habtom, Janvier Hadi and Tesfom Okbamariam combine for almost 100 points, which is fantastic. We're still expecting a bit more from Heiko Redecker and Rüdiger Selig hasn't been able to add many points since his GORR podium, but we're still ahead of schedule, Valens and Oliver perform as well as we could have hoped for and they still have lots of race days left. Some of the most important ones are right around the corner for Oliver - our first goal race, the Tour du Faso. Stay tuned for our preview in the upcoming days!

After a very successful Tour of Eritrea, Team Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes are back on the African continent for a second time this year. In Eritrea, Valens Ndayisenga made the most of his opportunities, but another type of skillset is needed to succeed in Burkina Faso.

"The Tour du Faso was a big priority in our season planning", team principal Theodore Boss told reporters at the pre-race press conference. "We approach this race with the goal of a Top 5 overall result and we discussed as much with our sponsors ahead of the season."


Directeur sportif Dira Sportif added: "Our high ambitions for this race, alongside our home race in Kigali, played a big part in dedicating as many ressources into our cobblestone squad as we have. Oliver has performed tremendously so far this season and we expect big things from him again here." To that end, the team has sent the best possible set of riders to Burkina Faso:

	Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	Dh	Pr
O. Naesen	75	57	72	64	77	73	70	76	77	76	64	60	66
T. Okbamariam	73	66	65	59	70	73	67	76	72	68	65	78	59
B. Schoonbroodt	72	63	75	63	75	73	67	74	68	72	61	74	63
E. Chokri	71	61	65	71	70	69	65	71	65	67	65	68	71
M. Habtom	75	53	61	64	75	75	80	68	77	78	60	63	67
J. Rutsch	70	63	67	61	69	70	66	68	62	67	69	68	66
H. El Sabbahi	70	64	68	63	69	69	66	64	69	70	68	67	65
S. Mugisha	69	63	67	67	65	67	66	63	62	68	69	64	61

Tesfom Okbamariam, Bob Schoonbroodt and El Mehdi Chokri have been staples of Oliver Naesen's support system over the season so far. In addition, Mikiel Habtom joins the fray, specifically for stage 2 but with an eye on stage 1 as well, which gives the team a strong 1-2 punch. Despite this strong squad, experts only see Naesen among the outsiders:

Favorites	COB	FL	ACC	Outsiders	COB	FL	ACC
Baugnies	79	77	72	Naesen	76	75	76
Nolf	79	73	70	Okbamariam	76	73	68
Taillefour	78	77	55	Paprstka	75	75	72
Van Avermaet	78	74	72	Tsatevich	75	74	75
Taubel	78	73	64	Schlechter	75	74	66
Manamalage	77	81	56	Weber	75	73	77
Maes	77	78	64	Abraha	75	72	72
Van Lerberghe	77	74	73	Lhotellerie	75	71	66
Sinkeldam	77	74	68	Minoungou	75	70	68
Thomas	77	73	75	Kluge	74	75	70

And the startlist for for the Tour du Faso is indeed jam-packed with the best cobblestone riders the CT Division has to offer. Specifically Jerome Baugnies of Los Pollos Hermanos has to be considered the man to beat - but remember that a Top 5 is the goal, not the outright win. Plus, Oliver is among the fastest riders, potentially looking for some bonus seconds in stage finishes.

"While far from a guarantee, we believe we have the opportunity to score ranking points on every stage here and another decent chunk from the final general classification. Nothing else can be the goal, even though we have to respect the strength of the other riders present", The. Boss said to conclude the press conference. Now it's time for the riders to follow these words up with actions.

NaesenFanNo1:
Rejoice, people, for the Naesen festival is upon us!

Cighclingfan420:
You're ... a bit of an oddball, huh?

RationalRider42:
What, you prefer those banana spamming kiddies?

AreruyaFanNo1:
hey!!

NdayisengaFanNo1:
yeah, hey!!!

RationalRider42:
All right, all right, I'm sorry

thegoodone:
I do want that Naesen festival, though ...

Klaus:
Regretfully I have to say, that Selig wasn't the best the last couple weeks over. I hope Habtom can do better.

thegoodone:
I just hope that there are no issues between him and Naesen for the leadership. If at all possible, Naesen should be the one to go after bonus seconds in the sprint on stage 2.

Cighclingfan420:
In theory, I agree but it would be cool for Mikiel to have a highlight for himself. Those have been rare so far.

thegoodone:
True. I guess as long as at least one of them is successful, we can be happy

A lot of stuff happened since our last update. Let's get the main thing out of the way first: We ... promoted to PCT?!?! As the season drew to a close, we were very happy to achieve our goal of a Top 10 finish in the CT Rankings in our maiden season, a goal that seemed ambitious to begin with. But then, as reports of team disbandments kept trickling in, we ended up as the final team to move up the ranks.

This is an entirely unexpected situation, one we didn't have in mind when constructing our roster and therefore one we can't say we're much prepared for. But that won't stop us from giving it our all to make the most of it! Before talking about where we go from here, let's have a quick look at how we got here in the first place:

16	Oliver Naesen	BEL		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	347
18	Valens Ndayisenga	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	312
37	Rüdiger Selig	GER		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	197
87	Bob Schoonbroodt	NED		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	81
102	Tesfom Okbamariam	ERI		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	60
121	Didier Munyaneza	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	49
150	El Mehdi Chokri	MOR		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	38
162	Heiko Redecker	NAM		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	32
184	Moise Mugisha	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	25
185	Mikiel Habtom	ERI		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	25
205	Janvier Hadi	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	20
213	Samuel Mugisha	RWA		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	18
256	Christoph Mai	GER		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	10
257	Houcaine El Sabbahi	MOR		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	10
310	Jonas Rutsch	GER		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	3
323	Hassen Ben Nasser	TUN		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	2
327	Juan Pedro Lopez	ESP		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	2
331	Souheil Khederi	TUN		Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes	2

Here's a look at our riders in the final CT Ranking. First of all, it is lovely to see that with two exceptions (youngster Simon Carr and oldie Adrien Niyonshuti), every single one of our riders contributed some points to the team's success.

But obviously, we were carried pretty heavily by our three leaders. Oliver Naesen and Valens Ndayisenga came through big time, both finishing in the Top 20 in the individual rankings, and Rüdiger Selig added a good amount of points, too. We also had some really decent depth scoring from the likes of Bob Schoonbroodt, Tesfom Okbamariam and, most surprisingly, Draftee Didier Munayneza, who was our breakaway specialist this year and capitalized on his opportunities.

That said, we also had a few disappointments. Sprinters Heiko Redecker and Mikiel Habtom performed below expectations, eventhough they were held back at least in part by suboptimal planning. Puncheurs Hassen Ben Nasser and Souheil Khederi were not expected to be big contributors, but a little bit more would have been appreciated. And Janvier Hadi could not turn his fantastic versatility into something tangible - but again, maybe his strengths haven't been utilized appropriately yet.

All in all though, a team performance that well exceeded expectations - and that now has to form the basis for a run in the PCT Division. But not all of these guys will be back.

So, here's who we had to say goodbye to. First, it's the three youngsters we loaned in: Simon Carr and Juan Pedro Lopez from Zwift Pro Cycling and El Mehdi Chokri from ISA - Hexacta. All of them were exceptional teammates, and the latter even provided us with a late season highlight by winning the U23 Paris-Roubaix.

Due to their age and waning physical abilities, we bid farewell to Christoph Mai, Hassen Ben Nasser and Adrien Niyonshuti - a Rwandan cycling icon, but he admitted himself that PCT is a bit much for him at this stage of his career.

Didier Munyaneza aspired to turn his successes into a higher wage than we were initially comfortable with, but we're sure we'll find an agreement in free agency. Heiko Redecker was let go after his wage demands did not match up with his performance whatsoever. And finally, and that's the biggest one, Rüdiger Selig was allowed to test the markets after we couldn't come to an agreement.

This leaves us with 11 riders under contract:

	Rider	Age	AVG	2021 Wage	Change	Availability
	Oliver Naesen	31	75,91	170.000	80.000	Maybe
	Valens Ndayisenga	27	75,24	115.000	35.000	No
	Mikiel Habtom	30	74,39	55.000	5.000	Yes
	Bob Schoonbroodt	30	74,15	60.000	10.000	Maybe
	Tesfom Okbamariam	30	73,51	50.000		Maybe
	Souheil Khederi	30	73,44	50.000		No
	Janvier Hadi	29	73,09	50.000		No
	Houcaine El Sabbahi	24	71,49	50.000		Loan?
	Jonas Rutsch	23	71,22	50.000		Loan?
	Moise Mugisha	24	69,87	50.000		Loan?
	Samuel Mugisha	24	68,90	50.000		Loan?

Despite his heroics this season, we were able to negotiate a significant salary reduction with Oliver Naesen, and Mikiel Habtom took a small pay cut as well. That more than offsets the increase that both Valens Ndayisenga and Bob Schoonbroodt - and deservedly so - received.

While this is a nice core to build upon, we also have to acknowledge that there is a whole lot of work to do. Valens and Oliver have served us well in CT, but whether they are capable PCT leaders remains to be seen. And in total, we only have 7 maxed riders.

For the first time, we're also in a position to potentially sell riders. While we're not actively looking to ship off anyone in particular, some of our riders might be available for the right price. A busy transfer period is upon us, but we're looking forward to every single bit of it.

After the unexpected promotion to PCT, Bralirwa management was faced with a very exciting challenge: Lots of space to fill, but also lots of money to do it. The first course of action was to repeat what worked well last year: Splash on a cobbler who can also sprint!

Joeri Stallaert

4.100

30yo

Cobbles/Sprinter

€850.000

Joeri Stallaert comes as our undisputed team leader and taking up more than a third of our cap space, he'll have to bring in a lot of points to show himself worthy of that role. But as an elite cobblestone rider with the speed to score even on pure flat stages, he surely has the potential to do so - he already has a Top 20 finish in the individual PCT rankings from two years ago to prove it.

Is it risky to spend this much on a single rider, a non-stage racer at that, in a division that tends to reward depth? Probably. Will he alone keep us up? Most definetely not. But he'll be a fun as hell rider to watch and root for, and we're not just here for this year only. With an eye on the future, our second signing of the season is potentially the biggest African talent of this class:

Natnael Tesfatsion

1.00

22yo

Puncheur

€100.000

Natnael Tesfatsion has the ambition to become a true elite puncheur, and with some training, he might get there. But in any case, he'll become a quality rider, a prospect we felt comfortable enough in to open free agency with a 100k bid that ultimately stood unchallenged.

Further deals are already in the works, so expect some more news soon-ish. The road to remain in PCT will be tough, but first steps are being taken.