3. aug. 2022

Buitrago wins opening stage in Burgos

This week riders of Team Bahrain Victorious are competing in stage races in Poland and Spain. As for Tour de Pologne, the team racked up two 2nd and 3rd place finishes each in the first four stages. Things look differently at the Vuelta a Burgos where Santiago Buitrago managed to win the opening stage, raising the seasonal tally of victories for the team to 15.

Throughout the month of July and the Tour de France, Team Bahrain Victorious missed out on a victory entirely. But young Colombian Santiago Buitrago got the team back to its winning ways in the opening stage of the Vuelta a Burgos right away. The riders in red, orange and black selected for this five-stage race in Northern Spain are Mikel Landa and Gino Mäder as co-captains, Matevz Govekar for sprints and pacing and Yukiya Arashiro, Santiago Buitrago, Hermann Pernsteiner and Wout Poels in supporting roles with freedoms to go on the attack themselves - an equally strong and international team.

The opening stage started and finished in the city of Burgos and featured a hard finale. At first three riders from second-division teams went on the attack, but the peloton kept this breakaway in check at all times. Team Bahrain Victorious participated in the chase, thus showing ambitions. The first rider of the team to try his hand was Wout Poels, but his attack with 15 kilometers to go was brought back and the peloton approached the ramp to the finish line in closed formation. Portuguese rider Ruben Guerreiro was the first to attack on the final, ascending kilometer. But Santiago Buitrago had entered the climb in a promising position, and the Colombian countered Guerreiro's attack, opening a gap that he could hold onto all the way to the finish.

After his win - his third victory of the season after stage wins at the Saudi Tour and the Giro d'Italia - the Colombian was delighted: «I knew this finish from last ywar, when I had missed out on the win narrowly and crossed the line in 4th place. This time the timing of my attack was perfect, but I still was afraid I would be brought back all the way to the 20-meter-to-go mark.» As the winner of the opening stage, Santiago Buitrago also is the wearer of the leader's jersey. Defending this jersey throughout the hard four days of racing ahead will be a tall order for Team Bahrain Victorious, however.

While the riders in red, orange and black got to celebrate a victory in Spain right away, the team racked up four podium results in the first four stages of the Tour de Pologne, scoring two 2nd and two 3rd place finishes each. At the end of the first stage, Phil Bauhaus crossed the finish line in 2nd in a bunch sprint. On the next day the team switched to plan B in the sprint and Jonathan Milan finished in 3rd. As the first, punchy uphill finish of the race, Pello Bilbao was only beaten by Colombian Sergio Higuita, putting the Basque rider in 2nd place on GC as well. At the end of the fourth stage, it was up to Jonathan Milan again to try his hand at the bunch sprint, getting another podium result by finishing in 3rd.


44TH VUELTA A BURGOS, STAGE 1: BURGOS - BURGOS, 157KM
1. Santiago Buitrago, COL/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, in 3.43.31 hours
2. Ruben Guerreiro, POR, + 0.03
3. Tao Geoghegan Hart, GBR, st

79TH TOUR DE POLOGNE, STAGE 1: KIELCE - LUBLIN, 218.8KM
1. Olav Kooij, NED, in 5:18.01 hours
2. Phil Bauhaus, GER/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, st
3. Jordi Meeus, BEL, st

STAGE 2: CHELM - ZAMOSZ, 205.6KM
1. Gerben Thijssen, BEL, in 4:47.23 hours
2. Pascal Ackermann, GER, st
3. Jonathan Milan, ITA/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, st

STAGE 3: KRASNIK - PRZEMYSL, 237.9KM
1. Sergio Higuita, COL, in 5:25.46 hours
2. Pello Bilbao, ESP/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, st
3. Quinten Hermans, BEL, st

STAGE 4: LESKO - SANOK, 179.4KM
1. Pascal Ackermann, GER, in 4:21.46 hours
2. Jordi Meeus, BEL, st
3. Jonathan Milan, ITA/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, st


Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency