Mader clinches silver for Bahrain Victorious in Swiss race

TDT | Manama  

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Team Bahrain Victorious rider Gino Mader claimed an impressive silver-medal finish on the general classification to end the 75th Tour de Romandie in Switzerland. Mader was able to climb to the second spot on the final rankings after putting on an impressive performance in the race’s fifth and final stage, which was a challenging uphill time trial.

Bahrain Victorious teammate Damiano Caruso also did well in the concluding leg, in which he was classified fourth to rise to sixth overall on the tour’s final rankings. To add to the individual honours, Bahrain Victorious also claimed second overall in the final Teams Classification, finishing two minutes 14 seconds behind top-placers Team Jumbo-Visma.

The 75th Tour de Romandie was part of the 2022 Union Cycliste Internationale World Tour. After finishing with the leaders the previous day, Mader had gone third fastest on the time trial, 36 seconds behind stage winner Aleksandr Vlasov, which put the Swiss rider and local favourite on the provisional podium.

Mader, already a stage winner at the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de Suisse, confirmed his status as one of the rising stars of the peloton, but the 25-year-old surprised even himself with his achievement on this final day.

“We hoped for a podium, but I didn’t really believe in it until I crossed the finish line!” Mader expressed. “I’m super happy, Damiano performed great, and as a team we rode well together the whole week, pushing each other.

“Yesterday was a bit of a frustrating day, but I think we bounced back pretty well – we can enjoy what was a good week!” Caruso had been in contention for the overall win before a mechanical issue 300 metres from the line on the summit finish of stage four meant he lost 38 seconds.

The Italian added after the stage: “I’m really happy with today, because it was a really good performance, and I’m happy for Gino too, finishing second on GC. Without the bad luck yesterday, maybe it could have been even better, but that’s bike racing.