The Victorious line-up will be led by Buitrago
CYCLING – February 14 is known around the world as Valentine’s Day, and Team Bahrain Victorious will be helping to spread the road cycling love this week at the Vuelta Ciclista a Andalucia. The five day race starts today from the coastal town of Almuñécar, almost the southernmost point of Spain.
While there are no major mountain passes this year, there is also no respite, no flat stages, and each profile is hilly and challenging. Unusually, the toughest day comes at the very start, as the 105 riders on the startlist cover 162 kilometres to Cádiar. Along the way they will face nearly 4,000 metres of elevation gain, and three categorised climbs. The most demanding of those is the C1 Puerto de Trévelez: its average gradient is only 3.2 per cent, but it is over 32km long, and it comes after two C3 tests in the opening 62km. The finish is downhill, but follows an uncategorised ascent of 3.3km at 7.6pc.
Victorious have travelled to Spain with an incredibly strong line-up, led by Colombian climber Santiago Buitrago. The double Giro d’Italia stage winner arrives fresh from taking the Youth Classification at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
Lead sports director for the race is Gorazd Štangelj, who is more than satisfied with the talented group he has with him. He said: “We have a strong team and on paper the strongest rider is Santiago. Ahead of the race he is our only leader. The first stage is actually the hardest, and because of that a lot of things could change. There are some strong riders here from other teams, so after day one we’ll re-assess, and it may be that we have to adjust each rider’s role.”
Damiano Caruso, making his season debut, will serve as road captain and Buitrago’s ‘bodyguard’. Joining the Italian are two other very experienced GC riders: Jack Haig, who won a stage here four years ago, and Wout Poels, who claimed overall victory in 2022.
Stage 2 kicks off with a 17.2km C1 climb: the Puerto del Sol, which averages 4.9pc, but ends with 7.3k at 6.5pc. There is no let up for the peloton after that, as the entirety of the 160km from Vélez-Málaga to Alcaudete is packed with short explosive climbs, and the hilltop finish is 8.5km at 3.5pc.
This year’s parcours is not one for the fast men, but their best opportunity will come on Friday, when the bunch ride from Arjona. Although it is up and down all day, the closing section of the 165km is relatively straightforward, albeit with a drag to the finish line in Pozoblanco.
Supporting the leader on the flatter parts of the 850 total kilometres between today and Sunday will be the young Croat Fran Milholjević, and seasoned German Jasha Sütterlin. They will also be responsible for protecting Buitrago and controlling breakaways.
As well as the demanding route, the level of the competition is also high, with six other World Tour teams participating. Štangelj acknowledges the level of the rest of the field, but believes Victorious have a formidable group ourselves.
He said: “We have the strongest team, and that brings a lot of responsibility, which we will have to find a way to deal with. We need to pay attention to the details every day … not doing too much work to control the race, and making sure we come to the finish with numbers – more riders in the mix than other teams. If we do that, we can play the game, and win it!”
Completing the TBV roster is 22-year old Antonio Tiberi, riding his first race of 2024. Excelling when the road goes uphill, the Italian is perfectly suited to assist Buitrago on this terrain.
The weekend offers more of the same: challenging stage profiles with hardly any flat road at all. Saturday’s stage starts in Córdoba, and ends with four 23km circuits around the finish town of Lucena. Within that loop is a 2.2km segment at 6.8pc, which could prove decisive.
This will be the 70th edition of the Ruta del Sol, and concludes at La Línea de la Concepción, just north of the border with Gibraltar. The finish itself is uncomplicated, but the first half of the stage is very tough, opening with the 20km first category Puerto del Madroño. Three tricky ascents follow in quick succession, and the race could be blown wide open in the first 100 of the 173km from Benahavis.
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