Sohrabi wins Jelajah Tour of Malaysia

Back to back tour wins for Mehdi Sohrabi, TPT and Ridley Noah.

Mehdi Sohrabi of TPT went on to win the final stage of Jelajah tour of Malaysia and the yellow jersey with a virtuoso performance. He was trailling the overnight leader, ex Footon-Servetto rider Vidal Celis Zabala of spain by 3 seconds, however by winning both sprint 2 and sprint 3 he picked up 6 bonus seconds placing him as virtual race leader by km 156. He then went on to drop all but the seasoned 9 time Irish road race and ITT champion David McCann who managed to hang on to Sohrabi till the closing kilometer. Mehdi's teammate, Markus Eibegger also put in a strong performance on his Damocles and went on to finish 8th in the overall tour classification helping TPT finish as overall leaders in the team competition.

Double Yellow

Its not very often that you see double yellow in Europe and Asia on the same brand so today was a special day for Ridley as Thomas De Gendt started stage 5 of Paris-Nice in yellow Jersey aboard his Helium while Mehdi Sohrabi of TPT started stage 3 of Jelajah Tour of Malaysia also in Yellow Jersey on his Noah. But of course this is not the first time for Ridley, it all started back in summer of 2008 when both Cadel evans & Hossein Askari wore the yellow jersey at the same time - Evans at Tour de france and Askari at the 2.HC ranked Tour of Quinqhai lake in China.

UCI Asia Tour 2011

Racing season in Asia is well on its way and by the look of it the 2010 UCI Asia Tour champion Mehdi Sohrabi of TPT has no intention of parting with the yellow jersey in 2011 either. Having won all 5 stages of Tour of Kerman he was quick to get back in yellow by winning stage 1 of Tour of Jelajah Malaysia on his Noah after driving a 60km breakaway that was timed to perfection.

February Racing and trade showing

Asian Championships

The Asian Championships wrapped up in Thailand at the end of February with a huge medal haul for Ridley riding athletes.

The Ridley supported Iranian team secured two gold medals with Rajablou on the Arena in the Points Race and Kolahdooz riding the Dean in the Junior Individual Time Trial. Additionally Rajablou placed second in the Madison also aboard the Arena and Asgari received a pair of Bronze medals in the Road Race and the Individual Time Trial.

Tour of Kerman

At the first international tour of 2011 in Iran - Tour of Kerma - Mehdi Sohrabi of the Ridley sponsored TPI team aboard his Noah managed to win all 5 stages of the tour and of course the yellow Jersey - a 1st in the Iranian tour history! The Green Jersey was won by TPI teammate Hossein Nateghi also on his Noah

QBP Frostbike

Our US distributor QBP hosted its annual open house and defacto trade show in Minneapolis, MN. Ridley staked claim to the “Northwest Territory” by far and away the largest booth space in the show and some of the busiest realty throughout the weekend. On show were all the 2012 cyclocross bikes complete with new technology and fancy new paint schemes. The large Vlaamse Leuw backdrop shouted “WE ARE BELGIUM” to the gathered bike fans, shop owners and industry stalwarts while also providing a convenient meeting point (overheard “meet me at the Belgian lion”). Season pre-orders were brisk and plentiful as stocking dealers loaded up for a much-anticipated selling season. The Flandrien collection was a strong seller while the Customizer drew a huge amount of attention. The conversation soon turned to the weather as a true North American blizzard trucked its way into MPLS dumping over a foot of fresh snow and shutting down the airport.

Cyclocross World Champs

The great American football coach Vince Lombardi once said "Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit"

And so another cyclocross season is wrapping up and winning is certainly a habit. Look back at the past ten World Championship events - seven of the past decade's victors rode Ridley bicycles. Can anyone say dominance?

Zdenek Stybar claimed his second elite title yesterday in St Wendel Germany in resounding fashion. The new rising star of Kevin Pauwels added some sparkle as well claiming his first elite category podium placing. Add in strong rides with Vantornout in sixth, Wellens in eighth and Meeusen in tenth position for fully half the top ten riders on Ridley X-Night frames.

Tested on Pavé kaohsiung style

Hello cyclist around the globe,

For the past 5 days we have been traveling around Asia. During our stop today we passed by a cool bike shop in Kaohsiung city in Taiwan.
Our distributor La Bici has done a great job with the shop owner and really nailed the decoration.
The tested on Pavé neon sign is so cool :)

Thanks to you all you riders supporting Ridley around the globe. It for you that we continuously strive to improve our frames, make nice designs...







Pedal hard, ride fast!

cheers

Yannick

Vacansoleil Team Presentation

Exciting times around Ridley HQ here in Belgium. Road racing season is nigh upon the horizon with the Tour Down Under beginning next week. We attended the Vacansoleil-DCM team launch this past Monday in Rotterdam along with tons of media, politicians and plenty of bike industry partners.

The team staff provided a wonderful setting, excellent commentary and plenty of access to the athletes - all topped off by an extravagant luncheon and take home goodie bags. The quote of the day was from Matteo Carrara "your bike has to be like your girlfriend you have to love your bike as your girlfriend or even more of course I prefer to share my bed with my girlfriend but immediately after comes my bike" Pretty much says it all right there!

The team has a wonderful international flare with Italians led by Ricco and Carrara, Belgians with Devolder and Leukemans, Dutch dudes with Johnny Hoogerland and Pim Ligthart and of course the Slovenian sprinter Bozic, the French Feillu and the Ukranian Lagutin plus Spain, Russia and other countries. Lots of difficult names to spell and pronounce luckily the official team language is English.

This is a great image of Riccardo Ricco - he's super motivated this year and seems to very comfortable with the his new team surroundings.

A few media outlets are making a big deal about a brewing rivalry between the two Belgian strongmen Devolder and Leukmans. Pretty funny actually since they seem to be very much at ease with each other and will certainly be a formidable force when other teams are on the attack.

Where heroes are born and legends are made

But First things First, i wish you all a happy new-year.
For some 2010 has been wonderful, for others a year with ups and downs. One thing is for sure 2011 is destined to be good! So let’s put our shoulders under it and blast off.
I’ve made my new year’s resolutions, but better to keep them for myself since they tend not to come true when I pronounce them out loud :p

Last Wednesday me and some friends went out for a MTB ride at Kluisbergen. What’s the big deal you would think? It’s “flat”, it was cold, snow & mud… well when driving over I recalled myself the hours I spent riding these roads.
The small, narrow, crappy concrete roads making my way to the hills nearby. Hills I disliked, hills I had to do several times during that training. At the time I did not feel the myth, only wind and leg cramps…
Coming back to these training grounds made me think of the great races that pass there every year, the thousands of people cheering, yelling. On these hills and pave sections the finale of the tour the Flanders starts, this is where they throw the first card on the table and men are separated from the boys.
During training camp of the Vacansoleil-DCM team I asked Stijn Devolder “aren’t you tires of riding those roads over and over again??” “Nah, are you crazy, there is nothing I love more than riding these races”
When struggling your way up the Oude - Kwaremont/Paterberg/… ,even on a mountainbike, I have to admit having a big grin on the face. Being able to shift that one gear up, quicken the pedal stroke and gently squeeze the force out of your competitors on these cobbles…
This mythical place will once again be the playground for those 2wheeled gladiators in spring.

Till next time!
Yannick

Bozic's best bike ever !

Vacansoleil sprinting machine, Borut Bozic, commented his new bike for the next season.

This is what he said : "the Ridley bike is perfect, the best bike I have ever ridden in my career !" He is ready to take on the big guns in the sprint. Check out a few pictures from Bozic and his bike.

Vacansoleil training camp - Benidorm

The Vacansoleil Cycling Team are on training camp in Benidorm, Spain. The riders received their new bikes and they were super excited to start the training sessions on their Noah and Helium. Check out what team manager Daan Luijckx and Riccardo Ricco think of the new Ridley Bikes. Every single rider was happy to hit the road with their brand new machine. Look at the admiration of national champs Devolder (Belgium) and Lagutin (Uzbekistan).

Vacansoleil Team Helium

Here it is folks - the Vacansleil-DCM Ridley Helium. We literally stole this bike from the mechanic's stand so that we could get a nice studio shot to share with the world.

Extra special thanks go out to our technical partners:

Fast Forward wheels

Rotor cranks and bottom bracket

SRAM drivetrain

Selle San Marco saddle

Jagwire cables and housing

Look pedals

Vredestein tires

Tacx cage and bidon

Deda Elementi bar and stem

Lizardskins bar tape

4ZA forks

BBB helmets and eyewear

KMC chains

Vacansoleil Visit

Big day at Ridley World Headquarters today - Vacansoleil riders stopped in for bike fittings and technical partner orientation. It's always fun to spend time with the upper crust of the cycling world be it athletes and directors or bike builders and parts manufacturers. Our new partners like Rotor, SRAM, Vredestein, Fast Forward, 4ZA all showed off the latest and greatest products that were outfitting the new Vaca team Heliums frames. It's off to team camp in Spain next month and then to Australia for Tour Down Under.

A new addition to the family

Introducing...*drum roll*

Ridley the dog!

Ridley is just 8 weeks old and learning to ride with training wheels. It won't be long until he tries his first triathlon as mummy and daddy (Neil, our tri-guy at QBP our US distributor) are keen triathletes.

Ridley Ignite Team wint Crocodile Trophee

Christof Mariën heeft in de nadagen van zijn fietscarrière de Crocodile Trophee op zijn naam geschreven. Hij finishte met zijn Ridley Ignite Team op de eerste plaats in het algemeen klassement in de category M1, dit resulteerde in een 8ste plaats overall net achter Jan Kirsipuu (ook op een Ridley Ignite Team) . Lees hieronder de commentaar van Christof over onze Ignite Team.

"De Ridley Ignite team waar ik mee reed was echt super! Het parcours is echt wel ruw en veeleisend voor je fiets en ik heb met mijn Ignite team totaal géén probleem gehad! Het was trouwens bijna de enige carbonkader die niet is gescheurd of gebroken! En dat wil toch wel wat zeggen in zo’n race en bovendien ben ik ook niet van de lichtste… Trouwens Jan Kirsipuu, de sprinter van AG2R van weleer reed met identiek dezelfde fiets rond! Ik raad je zo’n fiets echt aan!"

Ridley Japan's take on Cycle Mode

Hi All,

Just a quick update as I've just landed in Seoul and my room-service pizza has just arrived. Life on the road is glamorous ;)

Check out this link for Ridley Japan's take on Osaka Cycle Mode

A big arigato to Masa-san, Nao-san and Moto-san for all of their help this week and for doing such a stellar job of Ridley in Japan.

Big in Japan

It's truly a great thing being part of a global program like Ridley. We have amazing distributors and dealers all around the globe all doing an amazing job of representing BELGIUM. The Cycle Mode show is this weekend in Osaka Japan where our distributors JP Sports are showing the latest range to the Japanese cycling public.

You know you're experiencing something unique when you see people sprinting across the trade show floor in order to be the first in line to try out the latest and greatest. Ridley had a tidy demo fleet of five bikes on hand for the folks to ride - these five bikes were tested in excess of five hundred times on the Saturday opening day of the show. 500 test rides in less than 7 hours! There was a constant line-up at the booth with no fewer than ten people patiently awaiting their turn.

Needless to say, the non-Japanese amongst the Ridley crew were amazed and excited about the response to the brand as well as the overall orderliness of the lines, rides, testing and vibe of the show.

Cyclocross Season - Hurray!

No question about it - we love cyclocross season. We're up to our ears in mud here at Ridley HQ with victories pouring in from all over the world. Of course the top of the heap would be World Champ Z. Stybar maintaining a so-far undefeated season with a pair of World Cup victories and the leaders jersey in his closet. I'm thinking there is a good battle brewing between the two top Ridley sponsored Cross teams - Telenet-Fidea and Sunweb-Revor. Both teams are stacking up the World Cup podium appearances. On the ladies side of things Sanne Van Paasen (Team BrainWash) has been crushing it all year as well taking the Czech World Cup victory as well as the leaders jersey.

Across the Atlantic pond the Hudz-Subaru pb Ridley team has been absolutely throttling the competition across the continent. Tons of victories and podium appearances are in the history books spanning from California to Massachusetts with stops in BC and Toronto Canada for good measure.

The Embrocations guys (and girls) are rocking it out across the country - really representing the magazine, Ridley bikes and all of their partners. This shot pretty much says it all...

And of course no cross season is complete without the antics of the single speed crew. Newly signed Canuckian Wendy Simms produced two victories in two races on two brands newly built X-Fires. Literally the inaugural ride on each bike turned into a flying "V" across the finish line. Of course the golden bikini, wrestling belt and soon to be inked tattoo were well earned while dodging Sasquatch, mexican wrestlers, a kangaroo and numerous French maids...

And on the serious side Wendy retains the NACT National series leaders jersey and has her sights firmly set on adding a fifth (!!!) Canadian National Champ shirt to her wardrobe.

We're all off to KoppenbergCross in Belgium next weekend stop by and say howdy, enjoy a beverage and help us cheer for our favorite Ridley riding athletes no matter where in the world they're from.

A Ridley Ignite MTB for Andrea Dovizioso !

Thanks to Ridley dealer Cicli Zavarise of Cornuda (TV), a rapresentative of the Belgian bike company, had the pleasure, last month, to give a Ridley Ignite MTB, to the famous Moto GP rider Andrea Dovizioso, of the offcial Honda Repsol team, who has immediately started using it, for training and checking the circuits, before the races.

It might be a simple coincidence, but we like to believe that his new Ridley brought good luck to the strong rider from Romagna, as, in the two following races of his not too lucky season, he obtained two amazing second places, to Casey Stoner in Japan and to Valentino Rossi in Malaysia, probably gaining the opportunity to remain in the official Honda Repsol team also for next year, which was very difficult to think, only until few weeks before. As soon as this is confirmed, Ridley will make a new Ignite for Dovizioso in the 2011 team colours.

In the photo Andrea Dovizioso with his Ridley Ignite in the garden of his beautiful villa

Somekind of nature, some kind of soul.... simple rules to cycling

Hey everybody,

Felt like it was time to share some late evening/early morning ideas/thoughts with you. Short but powerful since i got to get in bed (starting early again tomorrow).

1) cycling is a bug, it definitely get's under your skin. You're in pain on the bike sometimes, working in the industry can be dam hard. But in the end you couldn't imagine yourself doing anything else.
I like cycling for quite some time know and it's been my job for 1,5 years; hard to imagine something else.

2) cycling must be fun!
Some simple rules though:

A) Wear a helmet!
If not for yourself, do it for your loved ones. Helmets are so cool and lightweight now,
no reason not to wear one.

B) there are no rules to cycling. I can go out with my dad and ride nice & calm for hours
chatting or i can train hard to reach a certain goal.
Last evening we went out with collegues making a pitstop to fuel up with a good Belgian
beer...
Maybe one rule after all... have fun


Sleep tight

Yannick

Catching up

It's been quite the long strange trip - Jo and I have been out traveling the world sharing everything there is to know about the 2011 range of Ridley bikes. After the hugely successful grand opening to our new facility in Belgium we hoofed it across the pond to Las Vegas and Interbike. I think we were all amazed at the reception we were given - no doubt about it Ridley was the buzz of the show. We were slam packed busy the entire show with dealers, media and competitors fighting for space in our booth. How good were we you might ask? Well how about a couple of quote from prominent media types:

"Hurry up and build the new bikes! Now everything else is going to seem a little plain..."

"...my product of the show that proved there is some true technological evolution going on at Ridley."

"Wanted to say thanks for taking the time to chat with us at Interbike and showing us Ridley's secret project... game changer for sure."

Of course Vegas just isn't Vegas without a little party program to kick off the festivities. Our Belgian brothers at Lazer debuted their new Oasis lid at the Hard Rock beach club - pretty nice and fitting location with Ridley Cross bikes at the beach. Wouldn't you guess it - the barriers ended up being fruity drinks with colored umbrellas!

Pack up the suitcase and hop a flight down under for Road Worlds and our dealer launch for Australia. We had a great launch with about 35 prominent dealers flying into Geelong to see the 2011 lineup and then watch a little bike race on the weekend. We were all a bit amazed at the number of Flemish flags and traveling Belgians amongst the crowd. Look at any finishing photo and the background is all yellow with Flandrien Lions. Big thanks to Mark, Nick, Matt, Brian and all the folks at Pacific Brands and the Bike Hub shops for making Worlds week such a Cracker of a good time!

Oh yea - there was actually racing down in OZ last week as well. Our Swedish national champ Emma Johanson opened up a killer sprint in the final 100 meters of the race to secure a beautiful bronze medal. I like to think her Asteria ISP was responsible although I'm guessing Emma's legs had something to do with it...

And our Katusha boys had a great weekend riding for their respective countries. Mr. Pozatto finished just off the rostrum in a solid fourth place on the day. I can pretty much guarantee he would have taken the bronze if the course would have been another 10 meters longer - he just ran out of real estate.

So summer is done and dusted. Time to pull out the Wellies and an umbrella - see you all out in the mud at the cross races.