Bilbao impresses with fifth in Tour de France second stage

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Pello Bilbao led three Team Bahrain Victorious riders in the top 20 yesterday in the second stage of the 2023 Tour de France.

Bilbao was amongst a large group sprinting to the finish and vying for the win at the end of the 207.3-kilometre leg.

He had to settle for fifth at the line but could have easily placed as high as second behind winner Victor Lafay of Cofidis.

Bahrain Victorious teammates Jack Haig and Mikel Landa were also part of the group towards the back, and they were ranked 16th and 17th, respectively.

Amongst the other Bahrain Victorious riders, Matej Mohoric came 72nd overall in the stage just over eight minutes behind the leaders, while Nikias Arndt was 111th, Woet Poels 114th, Fred Wright 144th and Phil Bauhaus 146th.

Following yesterday’s results, Landa moved into 10th place on the general classification, while Bilbao went 19th.

Bahrain Victorious also improved to second on the Team Ranking after a total of 389.3km covered in two stages—42 seconds behind leaders Jumbo-Visma.

Today’s third stage will cover a distance of 193.5km.

This year’s Tour de France features a total of 3,404km and over 55,000 vertical meters of climbing across 21 stages, which only includes a hilly 22km time trial on stage 16.

The Tour de France is the second of three Grand Tour events on this year’s Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Tour.

A Grand Tour event is a road cycling race that is one of the three major European professional stage races.