Bahrain Victorious is delighted to announce the contract extensions of Yukiya Arashiro, Santiago Buitrago and Damiano Caruso.

The Japanese cycling star Yukiya Arashiro joined the team in 2017, the inaugural season. Next year will be his 8th season with us: “I’m thrilled to continue working with a team that properly evaluates my work as a helper and respects my career.

Professional racing has entered a new stage and is taking on a different dimension than in the past, but I believe that I still have something to contribute and that there are tasks which suit me the best, so I will continue to focus on each race one by one. I can’t wait to add one more racing season and enjoy one more year in the WorldTour.”

The young Columbian talent Santiago Buitrago, who turned pro with Bahrain Victorious in 2020, will stay on with the team for another two years and look to develop on his outstanding results that include two stage victories at the Giro d’Italia, a 3rd place in the Monument Liège-Bastogne-Liège, plus two wins at Saudi Tour and Vuelta Burgos: “I’m very pleased to extend my contract with the team. In the past four seasons, the team greatly helped me grow. I want to continue believing in the project that the team has with me. I hope I can keep giving the team as many successes as possible to repay the team’s trust in myself and achieve the targets together.”

Damiano Caruso will also continue with the team till 2025. Caruso has been integral to the team’s success over his five seasons and continues to prove himself as a GC contender. The experienced Italian climber has claimed two GrandTour stage wins, a 2nd place in the overall at the Giro d’Italia in 2021 and, more recently, 4th at the 2023 edition of the Giro d’Italia: “This extension of one year more is pure formality. We neither needed to discuss the option of staying or not with the team. I feel part of a project beyond the job of a professional rider because I feel part of a family that gratifies me as an athlete and person: mutual feeling with the management that extended my contract until 2025.

I like thinking that Bahrain Victorious may be the team with which I will end my professional career as a cyclist.”