Fresh from a final-day top 3 finish for Pello Bilbao at the UAE Tour, Santiago Buitrago and Lenny Martinez both made the podium at the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes on Sunday.
Buitrago made an all-out effort to challenge for the overall win on the final stage (Villefranche-sur-Mer – Vence, 131.8 km). The Colombian climber attacked early with Richard Carapaz (EF) on the first major ascent of the day, before launching another move in the climb approaching the closing kilometres. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to shake off race leader Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana), who responded well and was able to hold onto his lead.
In a dramatic finale, Buitrago and Scaroni were caught just 100 meters from the line, setting up a reduced bunch sprint, which was won by Dorian Godon (Decathlon Ag2R La Mondiale).
The final GC standings have Buitrago 2nd, 10 seconds behind Scaroni, and Martinez 3rd at 12”. The young French rider also claimed the Best Young Rider jersey, rounding off an excellent performance on home soil. As if that weren’t enough, Bahrain also took the Best Team award in further confirmation of the squad’s strength in depth.
Bahrain Victorious Sports Director Roman Kreuziger reflected on the team’s performance across the three days in France:
“Today being caught so close to the line leaves a bitter taste. Santiago showed himself to be one of the strongest climbers here, and we fought hard for both the podium and a stage win. The victory didn’t come, but finishing 2nd and 3rd overall is still a strong result. Chapeau to XDS Astana for their success.”
Kreuziger also highlighted the team’s cohesion and solid performances:
“The most important takeaway is how well the team raced together. Jack Haig led brilliantly as road captain, and Edoardo Zambanini did an excellent job. What we can still improve is the collaboration between Buitrago and Martinez, but overall, the signs are very promising. Oliver Stockwell showed great form today, and Roman Ermakov impressed across all three days. It’s a strong foundation for the future and for upcoming stage races.”
While the team were flying high in France, 2000km south west, Italian Antonio Tiberi was lighting up the roads of Portugal, ending the Volta ao Algarve with a third place in the final day time trial. The 19.6km route culminated with a 2km climb to the fabled ‘Alto do Malhão’, on which Tiberi flew to an impressive result behind only the more established trialists Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert (both TVL).
“For me this was the first race after the winter,” said the 23 year old. “After a period at altitude my sensations were quite good. I suffered a bit in the first climb finish, but already today it was really really better. I feel that I’m growing day by day. I’m quite positive for the Tirreno, but especially for my main objective, that is the Giro d’Italia. Today the legs were really really good, and I’m super happy that I did the last climb almost four seconds quicker than Jonas, so it’s good things I think!”
Sports Director in Portugal was Gorazd Štangelj, who was satisfied with the work of the team over the week, but knows there is more to come:
“We came here to do a great result, but unfortunately, we suffered the GC stage on the top mountain finish, and it was difficult to gain so much time back. We got some nice results with Nicolò, seventh place, we found out that Olivo is a good guy too!
Then to finish today with a great performance of Antonio on the time trial, and I need to mention Afonso too. And of course as I mentioned, Antonio, yeah, a great, great, great time trial. We know, we all knew he’s a bit of a specialist.”
It has been a phenomenal few days for Bahrain Victorious, and hopefully a significant portent of even better things to come in the coming weeks and months.
