Caruso wins stage 4 of Vuelta a Burgos

The Vuelta a Burgos was off to a promising start as two riders of Team Bahrain Victorious finished the opening stage in the top 5. Damiano Caruso upped the ante in stage 4: attacking from the day’s breakaway, he rode to an undisputed solo victory. At the Tour de Pologne, Antonio Tiberi and Pello Bilbao, have been showing good form as well.

This week, Team Bahrain Victorious is competing in no less than two stage races, being the Tour de Pologne, which is part of the WorldTour, and the slightly lower-tier Vuelta a Burgos that has become a popular late test of form before heading to the Vuelta a España. For this race, the team fielded Damiano Caruso as the team's GC captain, with Afonso Eulalio, Rainer Kepplinger, Matthijs Paasschens, Finley Pickering, Torstein Traeen and Max van der Meulen riding in his support. The race started with an explosive finale up to the castle of Burgos. On these steep ramps, Afonso Eulalio sprinted to a 3rd place, with Damiano Caruso following suit in 5th. Unfortunately, the team got caught on the wrong foot in the hilly stage 3: while Torstein Traeen was the team's best-placed rider in 11th place, Caruso conceded more than 12 minutes to the stage winner.

Thanks to this deficit, Damiano Caruso got kind of a free ticket to join the day's breakaway, and the experienced Sicilian made the most of this situation. He made the jump into a strong seven-rider breakaway that worked together well and got plenty of room from the peloton. Soon enough, it was clear that the day's stage winner would come from this breakaway. Damiano Caruso kept his cool, worked as much as necessary within the breakaway and then pounced with 17 kilometres to go. None of his breakaway companions could follow his acceleration, and Caruso continued to build a lead of one and a half minutes on the way to the finish line. Thus, he ended a drought of more than 300 days without a win,  and thus scored the 7th win of the season for Team Bahrain Victorious.

As for the Tour de Pologne, Team Bahrain Victorious fielded a strong selection of riders, with Antonio Tiberi and Pello Bilbao sharing the duty as GC leaders. This duo could rely on the support of Jack Haig and Edoardo Zambanini, plus the young Roman Ermakov, Fran Miholjevic, and Vlad van Mechelen. Despite not having brought a dedicated sprint specialist to this race, the team scored some decent results, with a 2nd place for Pello Bilbao and a 4th and a 6th place each for Antonio Tiberi. Ending this Sunday, this WorldTour stage race still features a tough, hilly stage and an individual time trial over a distance of 12.5 kilometres. A look at the current overall standings shows that the riders of Team Bahrain Victorious are still in contention for a strong result in Poland.

RESULTS:
VUELTA A BURGOS, STAGE 4: DOÑA SANTOS - REGUMIEL DE LA SIERRA, 162.7KM
1. Damiano Caruso, ITA/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, in 3:33.18 hours 
2. Rui Costa, POR, + 1.26
3. Rui Oliveira, POR, st

STAGE 1: OLMILLOS DE SASAMON- BURGOS, 204.7KM
1. Roger Adria, ESP, in 4:49.46 hours
2. Jordan Labrosse, FRA, + st
3. Afonso Eulalio, POR/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, + 0.04

82ND TOUR DE POLOGNE, STAGE 3: WALBRZYCH - WALBRZYCH, 159.3 KM
1. Ben Turner, GBR, in 4:00.46 hours
2. Pello Bilbao, ESP/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, st
3. Andrea Bagioli, ITA, st

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency