Bahrain Victorious finish as team runners-up in Valencia tour

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain Victorious narrowly missed out on the team title yesterday at the conclusion of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in Spain. The event, commonly known as the Tour of Valencia, wrapped up with a 92-kilometre fifth and final stage.

The riders completed a total of 786.5km in the race.

Bahrain Victorious finished second overall in the teams category with a combined race time of 56 hours 56 minutes and 31 seconds. That was just 31 seconds behind the winners, British outfit Ineos Grenadiers.

Luis Leon Sanchez finished as Bahrain Victorious’ best individual rider after taking seventh overall in the general classification.

He was classified a minute and 14 seconds behind first place. Teammate Matej Mohoric followed in 11th overall 2:54 from the winner.

Pello Bilbao was just a second behind Mohoric in 13th, while Dylan Teuns came 17th, 3:50 back.

Jan Tratnik finished 20th 4:51, while Yukiya Arashiro rounded off the Bahrain Victorious riders in 58th place.

In yesterday’s final stage, Mohoric was their best-placed rider in 34th, followed by Tratnik in 38th, Bilbao in 46th, Sanchez in 63rd, Arashiro in 64th, and Teuns in 78th.

The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana was part of the newly established UCI ProSeries, under the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

The race was founded in 1929 and since then has played host to 72 editions of road cycling racing.

The race was an important season-opener for Bahrain Victorious in understanding where the team is and wants to be. Around 170 cyclists from more than 20 countries competed over five days