Downhill legend Yanik Arda had the luck to grow up in Altindere. This village is surrounded by mountains and there is a road going up to the hidden Sümela Monastery. This place used to be his main target for mischief during his younger years. Arda was a naughty boy and often had to flee on his bike to avoid getting caught. There the foundations for his explosive sprints and downhill abilities were laid. As he grew older the cycling trips got longer and he expanded his territory as far as to Giresun and Fatsa. A place where he watched the annual division 4 race with great interest.
As so many young Turkish men he found his way to the European mainland, hoping for a better career. He could not suspect then the opportunities would be much closer to home. Living somewhat as a nomad for a while he was scouted by Quick Step Minded (QSM) at one of their many events. Because QSM was looking...
Read moreDownhill legend Yanik Arda had the luck to grow up in Altindere. This village is surrounded by mountains and there is a road going up to the hidden Sümela Monastery. This place used to be his main target for mischief during his younger years. Arda was a naughty boy and often had to flee on his bike to avoid getting caught. There the foundations for his explosive sprints and downhill abilities were laid. As he grew older the cycling trips got longer and he expanded his territory as far as to Giresun and Fatsa. A place where he watched the annual division 4 race with great interest.
As so many young Turkish men he found his way to the European mainland, hoping for a better career. He could not suspect then the opportunities would be much closer to home. Living somewhat as a nomad for a while he was scouted by Quick Step Minded (QSM) at one of their many events. Because QSM was looking for capable sprinters, not climbers, they simply handed out their findings to Dutch and Flemish managers for free. It was Ron Cycling Team who acted the fastest and offered Arda an internship. The Dutch climbing team liked his climbing potential but had its doubts too. Would he fit the roster? Would he add something to the team with his weak hilly potential and no flat road abilities?
When better opportunities came along Ron Cycling Team decided to ditch Arda, for an adequate sum of money of course. It was the chance for Team Oasis to fill in a long existing vacancy in their team formation; that of a downhiller who could sprint well. They could not foresee that this marked the start of the golden era of downhill for them. Arda was very happy to, living close by home in a culture that was not that much different from home. A match made in heaven was born.
In the next few seasons Arda took quite some important scalps home for Team Oasis. It started with winning the praised Rio Pico – Gas Nac, followed by Bytom – Katowice, Whistler – Vancouver and Chennai – Pondicherry. In all of those races he would grab multiple results and/or wins. Unlucky for him was the he had to share the golden age with Dominic Haidegger. Nonetheless it worked out really well, with two seasons in which Team Oasis grabbed more than 1.000 points in the DH niche alone.
Meanwhile Team Oasis invested further in its downhill department. Arda intuitively felt it coming that he would lose captaincy rights as he got older. Team Oasis wanted to reach futher then heaven and went after Gott too. So in mutual consent Arda split ways with the team that made it possible to become a DH legend.
His next job was to do some wicked things for Tashkent Browncoats at a lower level at the end of season 42. Another 8 results of which 4 results were added to his personal palmares, though it was not the success that he secretly hoped for. Tashkent Browncoats got a bit stuck in division 5 and 6 which is not a happy place for downhillers. Division 4 was reached only shortly and/or too late for another place in the limelight.
Nevertheless Arda will be remembered as of the finest downhillers in OCM. For his retirement he headed back to Team Oasis, where he stopped during season 46.