@whitejersey and bbl - Thanks a lot, it sure does feel good!
@jt1109 - I remember going back and finding his Champs-Élysées win was for a different team to RBC, but didn't know if it was a loan situation or not. Very cool stat then that we are his only two permanent managers, a special rider who put in some special rides for both of us and will end with about equal service time for both of us too
@knockout - Thanks Poor Evonik had to make do with Michael van Staeyen Not sure you ever asked about him in the post-MVS era but maybe you just knew the answer already
Great to see Bazhkou and Houle back with the team and Frankovic is a favorite at McCormick (we have an award named after him), I too had the idea of going for him but things didn't work out that way.
I trained his flat in my first season when I was had no idea what I was doing. Or maybe that should be in my first season of having no idea what I was doing.
Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:
Great to see Bazhkou and Houle back with the team and Frankovic is a favorite at McCormick (we have an award named after him), I too had the idea of going for him but things didn't work out that way.
I trained his flat in my first season when I was had no idea what I was doing. Or maybe that should be in my first season of having no idea what I was doing.
Cheers Frankovic is probably still one of the riders I most associate with your team, such a cool rider (and foil to Holloway) in those early years. And I appreciate the flat training as I love that stat, but yeah maybe not the best value
Transfers Vol. 4: Leadership Dealings/Where did all the money go?
The trading side of the transfer period saw quite a public mishap from Xero, initially confirming two blockbuster deals for younger leaders, but when one was overbid the team was left in a quickly drying transfer market. Some late pivots (though one was a modification of an initial plan) saw the following riders arrive on the team:
Daan Olivier 33 | Maxed | 345,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FT
DH
PL
71
80
75
68
75
79
75
58
63
70
69
70
68
Career Palmarès
- GC Tour du Maroc ('20)
- 5th GC Criterium du Dauphine ('20)
- 2x Pro Hallstatt Classic ('23, '24)
- 5th GC Tour du Maroc ('21)
- U23 World RR Champs ('15)
- 5th GC Volta a Portugal ('21)
- 2x Stage Win Giro d'Italia ('16, '24)
- 5th GC Tour of Eritrea ('23)
- 3x Stage Win Maroc ('20, '23)
- 6th GC Tour de Romandie ('15)
- Stage Win Tour of Japan ('23)
- 6th GC Paris - Nice ('22)
- Stage Win Tour d'Andorra ('24)
- 2x 6th GC Vuelta Colombia ('23, '24)
- 4th GC Giro d'Italia ('24)
- 6th GC Balkans International ('24)
- 5th GC Tour de France ('20)
- 6th GC Criterium du Dauphine ('24)
- 8th GC Giro d'Italia ('19)
- 6th GC Tour of East Java ('24)
- 9th GC Tour de France ('21)
- 7th GC Paris - Nice ('20)
- 9th GC Giro d'Italia ('16)
- 8th GC Tirreno - Adriatico ('21)
- 9th GC Vuelta a Espana ('19)
- 9th GP Liechtenstein ('22)
- 10th GC Vuelta a Espana ('22)
- 9th GC Tour de Suisse ('17)
- 2nd GC Tour du Maroc ('23)
- 9th GC Vuelta a Colombia ('22)
- 3rd GC Tour de Pologne ('23)
- 10th GC Tour de Suisse ('16)
- 3rd GC Tour of Japan ('23)
- 10th GC Tour of Japan ('24)
- 3rd GC Tour de Romandie ('24)
- Points Tour of Japan ('23)
- 4th GC Tour d'Andorra ('24)
- Points Tour du Maroc ('23)
- 5th GC Vuelta al Tachira ('15)
- U25 Vuelta al Tachira ('15)
- 5th GC Deutschland Tour ('17)
Rankings History
2013
PCT
390th
Daan Olivier
Rothaus - Aegon
24
2014
PT
230th
Daan Olivier
Rothaus - Aegon
146
2015
PCT
64th
Daan Olivier
Aegon - Lavazza
295
2016
PT
59th
Daan Olivier
Aegon - Lavazza
549
2017
PT
51st
Daan Olivier
Aegon - Lavazza
542
2018
PT
91st
Daan Olivier
Aegon - Lavazza
350
2019
PT
51st
Daan Olivier
Aegon - Lavazza
580
2020
PT
20th
Daan Olivier
Aegon - Peroni
1131
2021
PT
68th
Daan Olivier
Aegon - Peroni
527
2022
PT
68th
Daan Olivier
Aegon - Peroni
480
2023
PCT
8th
Daan Olivier
Fastned
908
2024
PCT
10th
Daan Olivier
Sony - Force India
780
While it may have come under the radar later in transfers and as quite publicly not the team's initial plan, the acquisition of Daan Olivier is seen as a big one for the team, a big scorer who will lead them across the calendar. His record speaks for itself - for a long time an icon of Aegon/Fastned and a reliable PT scorer, and more recently one of the absolute top riders in the PCT, leading first his beloved Fastned and then our friends at Sony - Force India to promotion in back-to-back seasons. He's back in the Pro Tour as his career twilight begins, and while he may have lost a small step he's still going to be our go-to rider for stage races and all things mountainous. We won't spend too long telling the story of his career to date, because the manager of Fastned already paid tribute to him in lovely style in their HQ: read here. Daan arrives in (shockingly) our first ever deal with Sony, for a fee of €750,000.
Arvid de Kleijn 31 | Maxed | 50,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FT
DH
PL
70
61
75
60
71
71
76
66
74
75
64
64
67
A countryman and a former teammate of Olivier's, Arvid de Kleijn is also the third ex-Xero rider to rejoin the team in 2025. He finished his development with us back in 2019 but left the team to join Aegon in a trade after that year, from whom he returns to us (via Evonik... more on that below). He's a rider with a skillset we love, especially on such a bargain contract, but did not quite fit our structure well enough back then. Now, though, he's a perfect puncheur-sprinter hybrid leadout for one of the best puncheur-sprinter hybrids in the world, and will be Thomas Pidcock's right-hand-man in the final kilometres for much of his schedule.
Martins Blums 30 | Maxed | 132,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FT
DH
PL
72
77
77
68
71
73
74
63
64
70
73
78
71
Also joining us from our friends at Evonik (again, we're getting to the deal) is another long-serving rider of a staple PT team in their Latvian climber Martins Blums. Equally adept on short and long climbs, he is well-known an invaluable lieutenant to one of the world's finest riders with those traits. For a long time it was Miguel Angel Lopez, but now he will be enlisted in the company of Lopez's newly minted arch-rival, Joseph Areruya. Although not a star leader, we consider Martins a truly premium acquisition, as we finally give Areruya a true team to support him with Martins as the most luxury of luxury domestiques. He also has a good record of scoring for himself when given the chance, including some solid GC finishes in Grand Tours, which often sees him in the Top 150 of the rankings. That kind of season may be needed from him, and he will surely get the opportunity to give it to us. We can't wait to have him in the squad, and will surely take good care of our first ever Latvian, particularly after he also received a special tribute from his former manager: read here.
Rune Herregodts 27 | Maxed | 160,000*
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FT
DH
PL
73
75
75
77
74
78
71
65
67
70
74
66
80
The part of the blockbuster deal that did go through was receiving Rune Herregodts, along with €750,000, from King Power in a swap deal for Filippo Ganna. While that deal can rightfully be criticised when losing the context of the other deal going at the same time (surely a lesson for the team about confirming deals concurrently), no denials can be made about Herregodts' quality, and if Xero come through this season unscathed it can surely be considered at the very least a lateral move, if not a good one if the extra wage room can be used well.
Rune is a unique rider (apart from the better Wirtgen... and Dunbar.... and Evenepoel...), the type of which we've never had on the team. A time triallist with very solid skills on hills and mountains (even a decent kick and tolerance for cobbles), he can be a huge threat in a multitude of stage races. Rune scored nearly 500 points last season, good for 81st in the rankings, and we're sure he's not yet reaching his scoring potential with that number.
As part of the deal for Martins Blums and Arvid de Kleijn, Rune will spend 2025 on loan at Evonik - ELKO, splitting his wage 50/50 in return for the riders above and Evonik helping fund a huge training camp this off-season, which sees him taking strides in his ability over long time trials, which should make a huge difference in his scoring output. We look forward to seeing a preview of his talents in yellow this season, and him joining the squad full-time in 2026.
I agree that Olivier kind of flew under the radar. Maybe early on people didn't want to take a shot cause his salary after decline was a tad high, but he's still a great leader and you got him for a steal of a fee. Will probably be the x-factor for your team if I had to guess, bringing it quite a bit up the table.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
I hope Olivier does the business for you, similar to what he did for me last season. Lucky for you that people seemed way more invested in other leaders towards the end of transfers, but glad we could finally get that first deal through between our teams!
Looking forward to Blums, hopefully he can continue to shine in the rare opportunities to ride for himself whether its a GT or wherever. And i obviously hope that the Herregodts plan works out as planned for both of us!
Olivier should be still pretty good this season, especially if gets some breakaway luck in the GTs. The Herregodts deal is really good in the long term. It's not something everyone can afford to do, but your team is still more than good enough to keep out of trouble. Could be a scary good rider next year with 80+ TT
@knockout - Definitely heavy on the friends and family dealings in the back half of transfers Hope Blums can give you guys something to cheer on this year as well as boo him helping out Areruya
@redordead - Hope you're right on all counts, particularly about the Herregodts deal paying off. Think I feel good about it but certainly have us scrapping down the rankings a lot more than most previews seem to
A couple of days before the Xero squad presentation, men and women in Octagon or team polo shirts usher skinny young men with muscly legs into an electrically colourful room, a few at a time. Some look bemused by the whole act, a couple look nervous, some are mucking around and some are already cheerfully chatting with our cameraman. The format doesn't change, the background remains the same, the team design, back for another year because it works. It is the team's signature navy blue with streaks of red, white, light blue, and green, just as with their jerseys. The props are there - the bikes, the bouncy balls, the deck of cards, the team caps. This isn't the madhouse it might look like, but it isn't your average team photoshoot either - Octagon always do their best to showcase the fun, likeable side of the team. They also allow their leaders to sit down and get a little bit serious with us, as we discuss their upcoming season and present their schedule. First up, we talked to the man himself: Joseph Areruya.
Joseph Areruya 29 | Maxed | 800,000 | Xero since 2018
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
72
81
81
65
76
78
79
53
68
76
75
60
65
Xero Palmarès
- Giro di Lombardia ('24)
- 3rd GC Tirreno-Adriatico ('21)
- B World Championships RR ('24)
- 3rd Japan Cup ('23)
- 2x GC Tour de Pologne ('22, '23)
- 3rd Strade Bianche ('22)
- GC Scandinavia Open RR ('24)
- 3rd GP Wallonie ('23)
- GC Balkans Int. ('23)
- 4th GC Balkans Int. ('22)
- Strade Bianche ('23)
- 4th GC Tour of Lithuania ('24)
- Giro dell'Emilia ('23)
- 5th GC Balkans Int. ('24)
- Milano-Torino ('23)
- 5th GC Hong Kong Challenge ('20)
- 5x Stage Win T. de Pologne ('22, '23)
- 5th GC Tour of Lithuania ('20)
- 4x Stage Win Balkans Int. ('22-24)
- 5th GP Wallonie ('22)
- 3x Stage Win C. du Dauphine ('23)
- 6th Liege-Bastogne-Liege ('24)
- Stage Win Tirreno-Adriatico ('21)
- 9th GC Giro d'Italia ('21)
- Stage Win Tour of Tasmania ('24)
- 9th Giro di Lombardia ('21)
- Stage Win Scandinavia Open RR ('24)
- 2x Points Tour de Pologne ('22, '23)
- Stage Win Tour of Lithuania ('24)
- Points Tour of Tasmania ('24)
- Stage Win Tour of Norway ('19)
- Points Scandinavia Open RR ('24)
- Stage Win Hong Kong Challenge ('22)
- Points C. du Dauphine ('23)
- Stage Win Tour de l'Avenir ('19)
- Points Balkans Int. ('23)
- 3x Rwandan RR Champs ('19, '22, '23)
- Points Hong Kong Challenge ('22)
- 2nd GC C. du Dauphine ('23)
- Points Tour of Chile ('22)
- 2nd Classique du Grand-Duché ('24)
- U25 Giro d'Italia ('21)
- 2nd Clasica San Sebastian ('24)
- U25 Tirreno-Adriatico ('21)
- 2nd GC Tour of Chile ('22)
- U25 Tour du Maroc ('21)
- 3rd Amstel Gold Race ('24)
- U25 Int. Österreich-Rundfahrt ('20)
- 3rd Fleche Wallone ('24)
Rankings History
Points
Division Rank
Team Rank
Division
2018
38
281st
9th
PCT
2019
168
116th
5th
PCT
2020
473
52nd
3rd
PCT
2021
985
27th
1st
PT
2022
892
2nd
1st
PCT
2023
1511
1st
1st
PCT
2024
1894
3rd
1st
PT
Xero Stats
Rank
Best
Rank
Best
Seasons
7
=3rd
€/point
€555
12th
€338 ('20)
Points
5961
1st
1894 ('24)
Breaks
17
5th
11 ('18)
Wins
26
1st
13 ('23)
RDs
355
4th
90 ('18)
Wage
€3,310,000
1st
€880,000 ('24)
RotM
13
1st
4 ('24)
Jerseys
12
1st
3 ('21, '22)
The temptation to call Joseph Areruya Xero's "young leader" is well and truly gone now. 29 years old, in the middle of what is becoming clear is a peak that puts him among the world's best riders. It would be building a strawman to claim there was much doubt of his quality or Pro Tour-readiness after his dominant 2023 season which saw him triumphing among the best in the world at the PTHC Balkans International, and taking three stage wins while battling top climber Lachlan Morton to the death at the Criterium du Dauphine at the same level. However his nearly 2,000 points, enough for third in the entire world, surely was surpassing even the lofty expectations his time in the second tier demanded. No longer the fresh-faced 25-year-old who captured hearts with his aggression in the top division in 2021, he was now a battle hardened leader, cursed on the way out of the PCT and surely no longer a favourite of any fan whose team he faced at that level.
While he couldn't truly claim prominence over Miguel Angel Lopez (who notably won the rainbow jersey in a race largely pitched as a battle of two) or Silvio Herklotz, he did manage to beat both to his first Pro Tour GC (Scandinavia Open Road Race) and Monument (Giro di Lombardia) victory.
So what next? Well, just keep on doing it, one would think. It ain't broke, you'd posit, so why fix it? If he wasn't truly better than Miguel Angel Lopez, then his race schedule would surely be the reason for the discrepancy come final rankings time. Well, by the time this piece is published it will be Stage 2 of the Tour of Tasmania - a stage he won last year. And there is no Areruya to be seen in Australia - nor Lithuania later in the season, where last year he won a stage and was 4th on GC. Even one of the Ardennes classics, Amstel Gold where he was 3rd last season, does not appear on the schedule. By now it becomes obvious - if it wasn't already. Because when Areruya burst onto the PT scene, it was not in Australia, or Lithuania, or the Ardennes. It was in the Alps, at the Giro d'Italia, where despite his dogged attacking he couldn't claim the KoM jersey he wore during the race, was chased down and denied a stage win on the Queen stage, and settled for 8th on GC and the U25 jersey (below). Since then it has seemed that he wouldn't get another shot at Grand Tour success, plying his trade far more as a climby puncheur than a punchy climber.
This time, though, Areruya is doing what no Pro Tour puncheur ever voluntarily does and is asking for more face time with one Silvio Herklotz, going up against the German in sunny Spain at La Vuelta. A possibly once-in-a-career route for the Rwandan, with minimal flat ITT kilometres and plenty of punchy stages, was just too good to turn down, he tells us.
"It might not make the most sense for the rankings, but a Grand Tour isn't about the points. I always want to do more mountains in my schedule and the team finally said yes. To do it at a Grand Tour is perfect, I've always loved these races and didn't want to wait until I had grey hairs to ride one again." he smiles. He knows that bringing home the red jersey may be the toughest task of his career, he adds, but as usual for Areruya he's going to approach it the only way he knows how - all-in, full-throttle, pedal to the metal, et cetera.
Elsewhere, any fan could probably guess how the other 17 days are spent. He's got to go to both suiting monuments, so there's 13 left. Defend his Scandinavia title, there's three and solves the uneven number problem. We're sure you can do the rest.
"It will be something new to prepare myself for this season. Everything is so spaced out, I'll be working to peak fitness for lots of short spells during the season, obviously building up to the Vuelta. We've been talking a lot since December - diet, training schedules, psychologist, all of that. It's going to be like a boxer - months of work for one thing a lot of the time."
7/2
Classique du Grand-Duché
PT
1/5
Fleche Wallonne
PT
3/5
Liege - Bastogne - Liege
GTM
5/5-10/5
Balkans International
PTHC
22/6-24/6
Scandinavia Open Road Race
PT
10/9-30/9
Vuelta a Espana
GTM
17/10
Giro di Lombardia
GTM
Just seven races in total. While the first two might be seen as only huge races and not season-defining ones, that cannot be said of any of the others. While this schedule isn't about optimising the points total in the way his 2024 one was, collecting the highest points possible from this lineup, save four or five pencilled-in finishes behind Silvio Herklotz, is still very important for Areruya given the probable step back in the Team Rankings Xero are due for after the personnel changes.
One final thing to note for those other six races: while it's far from customary these days for the B World Road Race Champion to wear the blue and rainbow bands jersey to which he is entitled, some sources at Xero spoke to me and told us Areruya was adamant he would not when asked by the team if he wanted to see any designs. Riding next to Lopez all season in the cheap knockoff while the Colombian sported the real thing was clearly not an image the Rwandan needed. Safe to say the results of the final race of last season have been ringing in his ears all winter long.
Love the aggression to send Areruya to the Vuelta in the year he's best suited for it. As you said, once in a career. Not excited for my riders though. Think I made some mistakes in planning.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Olala, I seriously regret the Vuelta for Valter with both Areruya and Herklotz going there Kind of expected Herklotz, but Areruya is more of a surprise. I am sure you have your reasons, though
Good luck with it, just please leave something, anything, for Valter too
Having the Lopez knockoff in the rainbow knockoff would be so fitting
Love the decision to see Areruya in the Vuelta. I would love to send Lopez one year but cant talk myself into doing so whenever i go into the planning and see the opportunity costs. Looking forward to it and hope youll get a satisfying race from it.
Poor Evonik had to make do with Michael van Staeyen 
Not sure you ever asked about him in the post-MVS era but maybe you just knew the answer already 
Thanks 
Daan Olivier
Martins Blums
Rune Herregodts
Joseph Areruya
Classique du Grand-Duché
Balkans International
Scandinavia Open Road Race
Vuelta a Espana
Giro di Lombardia
