Buitrago finishes overall runner-up in Saudi Tour

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain Victorious rider Santiago Buitrago finished as the overall individual runner-up to end the Saudi Tour 2022 yesterday. The race’s 138.9-kilometre fifth and concluding stage started and finished at Al Ula Old Town.

Buitrago was able to take second place despite being ranked 27th in the concluding leg, which he finished with a group of 39 other riders. The Colombian had a total time of 20 hours six minutes 24 seconds over the full 831.3km distance covered in the race.

He finished 36 seconds behind newly crowned champion Maxim Van Gils from Belgium, racing for Lotto Soudal, who was 20th in the final stage. Amongst the other Bahrain Victorious riders, German Jasha Sutterlin was classified 14th overall on the general rankings after taking 14th place on the final stage, which was the best individual result from the team yesterday.

Filip Maciejuk from Poland was ranked 19th after going 42nd in stage five, Italian Jonathan Milan was 53rd overall following a 78th place finish in the concluding leg, and Kamil Gradek, also from Poland, ranked 71st overall after finishing 80th in the fifth and final stage. Meanwhile, Buitrago also took second place amongst the race’s young riders and seventh in the points category.

Maciejuk was also in the top 10 amongst the youth where he was sixth, while the Bahrain Victorious quintet completed the event as the fourth-best team. This year’s Saudi Tour was the event’s second edition, and it kicked off the 2022 season for Bahrain Victorious.

Tour of Valencia

Bahrain Victorious’ Pello Bilbao put in a fantastic effort in the Queen Stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in Spain to finish the leg in fourth place, while teammate Luis Leon Sanchez came in ninth.

After a flat opening phase where the pace was extremely high, a group of 11 riders, including Bahrain Victorious ace Jan Tratnik, began to make headway. From there, the gap continued to extend from the peloton into the two-and-a-half-minute mark, but some riders in the breakaway began to drop off and surrender their position.

With 19 km remaining, Tratnik took the position as a sole leader and for a time was able to fight off any potential counterattacks that came his way.

Unfortunately, this was where he surrendered his lead. Following the winner out in front was Bilbao, who managed to finish 29 seconds behind in fourth place, showcasing an impressive effort as the gradient and surface toughened for every rider.