Written by Mal from Tashkent Browncoats.
  
  Sometimes, riders or teams seem to be married to races. Their profiles might match, they win it once, and then they know the parcours. So they come back, and win it again. And again. And maybe again. Say the name Benjamin Fontes, and many cobbler manager of division one might recall dwinling hopes of victory, when discovering Fontes' name after signing up for Antwerpen-Huy or Roubaix Classic. Roubaix has in recent years been claimed by Geir Gilje of Alpine, winning 5 out of the last 6 editions. What about de Tweedaagse, which was won four times by no less than three riders, with Sherard Rolfe of Navarone Cycling Team even taking it home five times?
  
  Names like Farruco Alonso of PEKAC B (5 times Vuelta de los Castillos) , Patryk Drozdowski (8 times Germany Tour) and of course Sandro Montalbano (a whopping 9 times Essex Tour, along with 3 Cymru Taits and two Germany Tours) are names that are embedded in the history of OCM and in our collective imaginations. And it seems logical that dominating the most comptetitve races and tours is the pinnacle of achievement, and therefore the reverement of these riders is natural.
  
  Well, it is, to be fair. But what about those, who do it in the lower divisions? In the shadow of these giants, of the highest two divisions there are 6 more levels of cycling competition. In these divisions, teams' rankings are far more tidal: this is where we find the rising stars, teams on their downfall from the top flight due to inactivity or aging squads, and the teams that inadvertedly sign up for a race as the only team, take home a massive haul of points, and are stuck where they can't compete. While when a team is good enough to be in the top flight, stability is almost a given, in lower divisions it is all but.
  
  So is it not almost more impressive, when teams or riders dominate races here? Even if a team can reliably be in, let's say, divsion 5 just in time for the signup of that one race, that one tour, for seasons on end,

the competition might consist of better teams coming from a break, veterans on the hunt for a more diverse palmares. And even if you do manage to dominate, after retirement your name won't be lent to a race in your honour, no award shall bear your name. It is time to sing the unsung heroes.
  
  
  Qvibra Pro Cyclingte - The Swedish Decade of Perm Tour
  
  Perhaps the most impressive feat is that of Swedish team Qvibra Pro Cyclingte, who managed to win Divison 3's tour in Perm 10 times in 11 editions. Ronny Forsgren won 5 editions straight from edition 46 to 50, and his compratriot and teammate Jussi Dahlkvist did the same from edition 52 to 56. The only edition is this period, edition 51, that wasn't won by one of these two? Won by mapei bianchi's Ronny Hellgren, also a Swede. And a Ronny. And a -gren. No Swede has won this tour before or since.
  
  Edi Bacilieri (Herens Cycling) - The Classics
  
  Herens Cycling has a taste for the classics - so much so that the team has won every climbing classic up until divison 3 - multiple times. To make it even more impressive, nearly all of these where won by just the one rider - Edi Bacilieri, who has indeed also won all these classics, barring one all of them multiple times. 3 times Juberri - Pas de la Casa, 3 times 4 times Bali Classic, 2 times Uttendorf - Matrei in Osttirol, and one time Criterium La Grasse.
  
  Robbie Bormans (Piano toddlers) - Ruling without a Wildcard
  
  One of the few recent examples of a man married to a tour: Belgian Robbie Bormans of Trinidadian abd Tobagonian outfit Piano toddlers. Bormans has won the last three editions of the Odyssey of the Oryx, taking home the Sprint Classification two of those three times as well. Even more impressive's the fact that he has done so for a team without a wildcard. Bormans is truly dedicated to this tour (or not really fit for something else) as he has gotten only one win and one other result outside of Namibia during his tenure

on the island. Interestingly, during his long spell at his previous team he'd only ever gotten two results. This team was also a wildcardless team, making Bormans a true “non-league” phenomenon in many aspects.
  
  Tashkent Browncoats - Polish Return Policy
  
  Tashkent Browncoats has long been a team with a glaringly empty palmares. Manager Mal has aluded to the fact that ever since the team's inception in season 29 (and even before, when he was managing a different team) it had been his goal to win a tour, or at least put something on his palmares. The team focussed on winning the Edmonton Red Deer Tour, and found out that a rightly timed topform would last just long enough until Criterium La Grasse. While many attempts to win ERD were unsuccesful, it did result in victories in la Grasse in edition 41, 43, 45, 48 and 51 by the Poles Erazm Debski and Rafal Figura, the former winning the first two and the latter the last three. Uzbek Yaroslav Fammus added a sixth one to the palmares only last season.
  
  FretexHIBAS - Mastering the Mids
  
  We'll finish with probably the most iconic team of the mid-divisons: FretexHIBAs. An interesting team. It has, in the past, reached into division 1, and with more than a million in the bank currently, it would very likely be able to compete to reach that level again. The team has taken a different approach however: domination of the middle ranks. The team has won RotM five times with three different riders since edition 44, four straight wins of Criterium la Grasse with Steffen Mortesen (edition 57-60), and seven wins of Classic Oslo, five of which with Soukaphone Ammouayphone.
  
  Honorable mentions:
  
  -Que Nam Hong of Universal Soup - 4 times ROTM, 3 of which in a row
  -Dahab Sall of Muller F - the last 4 editions of tour of the Sanreizan
  -Ron Cycling Team - won Copa de la Historia de los Andes 3 times in a row with a different rider every time - and once more last season