At its heart, the Bundesliga is a team competition. Any individual can enjoy a great race but if they don’t have the teammates to support them their result will not ultimately count for much in the overall standings.
Nevertheless, there will always be scope for certain athletes to play a particularly important role for a team. After all, the athlete that steps up and logs a high finish but does not have teammates finishing in similar positions may be the only thing keeping the team off the bottom of the standings.
As much as the team format equalises the contributions of individual athletes, some are a little more equal than others.
In this series, we will look at the most important performers for each team in the Bundesliga. Most important is a vague metric, one that is purposefully left so to enable a degree of subjectivity.
There has to be a balance between the athletes that appear at multiple races, itself a vital aspect, and the athletes that bring home medals. Moreover, there can be a difference between the athletes that were expected to do well and those that surprised with how well they performed.
Finally, there is the added influence of the impact on a team’s overall performance. One athlete does not make or break a season, but they certainly can play a big role.
Read on, then, to find part one of the men’s top Bundesliga performers for 2023.
EJOT Team TV Buschhütten – 1st
As the 2023 champions, Buschhütten had several athletes that could have been named their top performer.
Jonas Schomburg was their top entrance in the individual points standings, ending the season ranked 3rd with 35 points. At the same time, Simon Westermann won the fourth round in Tübingen. To go with that, Westermann finished 5th in Hannover, leaving him with 36 points.
Having only raced twice rather than the mandated three times to make the individual rankings, Westermann did not officially beat Schomburg. On balance, though, he certainly brought a lot to the table.
Overall, though, the top performer for Buschhütten was Vetle Bergsvik Thorn.
Thorn delivered an individual win in the final round in Hannover. In the season opener in Kraichgau, he also anchored the team to victory. Thorn logged the third best leg of the day in Kraichgau and was a point of separation for the team in his appearances.
Team Berlin – 3rd
Rico Bogen was ranked as the MVP in the men’s Bundesliga after finishing his season with 60.5 points. For that, he was the top performer for Berlin.
Bogen won silver medals in Schliersee and Tübingen, making him the only man on the team to make it onto the podium. To go with that, he also finished 6th in Hannover and 16th in Düsseldorf.
The only other top-10 finish by a Team Berlin man this year was Benedikt Bettin (who finished 10th in Schliersee). Bogen thus brought the top finishes and greatest consistency to the team. Given that Berlin beat Darmstadt to 3rd overall by only 1 point, Bogen’s contribution made the difference between finishing on the final podium or not.
PSD Bank Tri Post Trier – 5th
Gjalt Panjer had a great season for Trier, finishing 6th in Düsseldorf and 9th in Tübingen. To go with that, he also contributed a valuable leg in Kraichgau which helped the team to their stunning 3rd place at the season opener.
As good as Panjer was, though, Jonas Osterholt just about edged him as the team’s top performer.
Osterholt finished 7th in Hannover and 6th in Tübingen. He also finished 20th in Düsseldorf, giving him four appearances to Panjer’s three. All things considered, the real point of separation for Osterholt was his leg in Kraichgau. He was the fourth fastest man of the day and his anchor leg lifted Trier onto the podium.
Panjer and Cedric Osterholt were therefore crucial members of the team, but Jonas Osterholt was the best of the bunch.
PUSCH-DATA-Team AST Süßen – 7th
Maxime Hueber Moosbrugger managed the highest finish of the year for Süßen (finishing 6th in Schliersee). Linus Lehnen also was committed to the cause as he showed up to every race and finished between 22nd and 33rd at each, brining in consistent points.
However, on balance, the top performer for the team was Nicoló Ragazzo.
Whereas Hueber Moosbrugger raced only once for Süßen, Ragazzo stepped up on three occasions. In Kraichgau, he provided a solid leg as part of the opening duo. The team would go on to finish 11th. At the end of the season, he would also finish 28th in Hannover.
In between, though, he finished 8th in Tübingen. He therefore was the only man aside from Hueber Moosbrugger to log a top-10 finish.
The difference between 6th and 8th is not the largest and when Ragazzo’s additional appearances are factored in he was a big part of the team.
Team Weimarer Ingenieure – 9th
Alexander Kull was the clear choice for Weimarer Ingenieure’s top performer. Aside from a disqualification in Tübingen, he was the team’s top perfomer at every race.
In Kraichgau, he dropped the fastest leg of the team, helping them to 10th. He then finished 13th in Schliersee, 25th in Düsseldorf and 8th in Hannover. For his efforts, he was also ranked as the 9th most valuable man in the series (based on athletes with three results).
With points like appearances at every race, the fastest Kraichgau leg and the only top-10 of the team in his favour, Kull was quite a simple pick in the end.
Absolute Teamsport KTT 01 – 11th
Peter Denteneer was ranked as the 10th most valuable man in the 2023 Bundesliga and he was the top performer for KTT 01. The fact that he was the only athlete from a team outside the top-10 to make the individual rankings says a lot about his contributions this season.
After racing in Kraichgau (and nailing the fastest leg of the team), he would go on to finish 19th in Düsseldorf, 15th in Tübingen and 19th in Hannover. KTT 01 only managed two other top-20 finishes (Eirik Berling Grande’s 19th in Schliersee and Brad Course’s 16th in Tübingen). Whenever Denteneer showed up, then, he was the team’s top performer.
WEICON Tri Finish Münster – 13th
Tyler Smith had the top finish of the year for Münster after claiming 14th in Schliersee. The top performer, though, may just have been the man that finish a place behind Smith that day.
Sébastien Pascal took 15th place in Schliersee. In his second appearance, he was the top performer for the team in Tübingen. Although he only finished 37th in Tübingen, he also added the fastest run split of the field, giving him a notable sub-achievement.
Across the board, Münster found high finishes hard to come by. Although the likes of Alejandro Canas del Palacio were reliable attendees on the circuit, Pascal’s top-20 finish and field-leading run split give him a degree of separation.
SV Würzburg 05 – 15th
Würzburg are a hard team to pin down when it comes to the top performer.
Junior athlete Henning Scholl had the fastest leg in Kraichgau. Philip Mack was the top performer in Schliersee and Düsseldorf, finishing 50th and 41st respectively.
In addition, Jonas Kreckel had the top result of the season, claiming 26th in Tübingen. Kreckel also finished 49th in Düsseldorf.
Overall, though, Seppe De Graef might just shade it. He finished 37th in Hannover, which was the team’s top finish at that race, and performed well in Kraichgau too. To go with that, he added a 36th place in Tübingen.
The key with De Graef is that his appearances and consistent contributions coincided with some of the team’s best performances. He anchored the team to 11th in Kraichgau. His combination with Kreckel helped Würzburg to 10th in Tübingen and then he led them to 14th in Hannover. Without him, Würzburg finished 15th twice.
De Graef thus ticked the boxes of consistency, high relative finishes for the team and impacting the team’s overall standings. For that, he can be considered Würzburg’s top performer.
Check back tomorrow to see part 2 of the men’s top performers in the 2023 Bundesliga.
