Efrain Gerster will always be remembered as the sprinter who brought De Bitterballetjes to where they are today. The current 32-year old Welshman simply is the greatest rider in their club history.
Being a youth product of the Swedish squad Handelsbanken, Gerster quickly was sold to Andrew Blaze, the current manager of Ghost Riders. De Bitterballetjes' club monument never had the greatest potentials, but he just grew slowly above them. The potentials he had were good for both sprinting and climbing, average for flat road, cobbling and technique.
Ghost Riders quickly decided to sell Gerster again, because they didn't believe in the future of Gerster. There was really no believe in the abilities of the sprinter, because nobody cared to make an offre, except for De Bitterballetjes. The transfer fee was 42.000 dollars.
Efrain Gerster came to De Bitterballetjes as a 21-year o...
Read moreEfrain Gerster will always be remembered as the sprinter who brought De Bitterballetjes to where they are today. The current 32-year old Welshman simply is the greatest rider in their club history.
Being a youth product of the Swedish squad Handelsbanken, Gerster quickly was sold to Andrew Blaze, the current manager of Ghost Riders. De Bitterballetjes' club monument never had the greatest potentials, but he just grew slowly above them. The potentials he had were good for both sprinting and climbing, average for flat road, cobbling and technique.
Ghost Riders quickly decided to sell Gerster again, because they didn't believe in the future of Gerster. There was really no believe in the abilities of the sprinter, because nobody cared to make an offre, except for De Bitterballetjes. The transfer fee was 42.000 dollars.
Efrain Gerster came to De Bitterballetjes as a 21-year old rookie in season 27 and it didn't took him very long to pay back the investments manager Bart made for him. In season 28 he immediately finished 10 times within the first eight riders in races, including four results and two victories. In the next seasons he kept a steady tempo of delivering the squad an average of about 2-5 results each seasons.
Overview:
Season 27: no results, no top-9
Season 28: 4 results (including 2 victories), 10x top-9
Season 29: 5 results (including 2 victories), 12x top-9
Season 30: 3 results (including 2 victories), 11x top-9
Season 31: 5 results (including 2 victories), 7x top-9
Season 32: 2 results (including 1 victory), 7x top-9
Season 33: 2 results (including 1 victory), 6x top-9
Season 34: 2 results, no victories, 3x top-9
Season 35: 4 results (including 1 victory), 9x top-9
Season 36: 2 results (including 1 vicotry), 2x top-9
Season 37: no results, 4x top-9
Season 38: no results, 2x top-9
Efrain Gerster once was the dominant captain of the squad, but as time flew by he received competition from younger, but often less talented sprinters. Starting from current season 38, he is more often used as a lead-out sprinter for other captains as age is starting to kick in. But he certainly will be remembered as the greatest of all time for De Bitterballetjes.
Wales