Bauhaus clinches season-opening win for Bahrain Victorious

TDT | Manama                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Team Bahrain Victorious rider Phil Bauhaus kicked off the new international cycling season in style yesterday by winning the 149.9-kilometre first stage of the Tour Down Under in South Australia.

The event, being held over five legs, marks the opening round of the 2023 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) WorldTour.

Bauhaus triumphed in a bunch sprint, beating Caleb Ewan of UniSA-Australia team and Michael Matthews of Team Jayco AlUla.

With the result, Bauhaus now leads the points classification in Santos Tour Down Under while posting the first win of Team Bahrain Victorious in 2023.

Bauhaus commented after his win: “Today was super nervous, a lot of guys, unfortunately, went down. I crashed pretty bad like it was big impact, but I could recover.

The team did a really good job. “We were always in the front in the last lap. At Schwalbe Classic [held last week], I waited too long, so I just went with 300 meters to go. It was really close to Caleb Ewan, but yeah, I am super happy.”

Bauhaus took a tumble earlier in the day yesterday when the riders in front of him lost their balance.

With many of the other competitors crashing into him, his back hurt, and he had to change his bike due to the bad crash, then made some effort to come back.

In the final kilometres, Bauhaus was well placed in the peloton just behind the train of Soudal-Quick Step and Team Jayco AlUla, while Nikias Arndt was at the front leading out for him.

Around three hundred metres from the finish line, the German launched his sprint, edging the Australian duos and showing he was the fastest sprinter in the field, clinching his maiden victory in Tour Down Under.

Bahrain Victorious sports director Neil Stephens said: “Obviously the team is very happy with the win from Phil Bauhaus today.

It’s a win not only from Phil but for the whole Bahrain Victorious team.

“We worked really hard throughout the European winter months to get ready for this race.

Today’s win is really thanks to a lot of hard work from Phil, his teammates and all the staff members. We keep on working hard and hoping to win more races in the future.”