CYCLING – It was mission accomplished for Bahrain Victorious at the Tour of the Alps, as Antonio Tiberi sprinted to second place on the final stage, securing third place overall and claiming the white jersey for the best young riders.
Victorious also clinched the title of best team in the gruelling five-stage race across the Alpine territories of Trentino Alto-Adige in Italy and Tyrol in Austria.
It was a challenging week in the Alps for the team, with only five riders remaining after the opening stage due to Pickering’s crash and Sergio Tu’s mechanical issue on stage 3 in bad weather conditions.
However, from the outset, team leaders Tiberi and Wout Poels displayed formidable form, despite missing out on stage victories. Their performance steadily improved throughout the race, culminating in a strong showing on the queen stage from Laives to Borgo Valsugana. Poels finished fourth and Tiberi sixth, elevating them to fourth and third place in the GC respectively.
With the white jersey won on stage one and kept for the whole week, Tiberi started the final stage (118.6km, starting and finishing in Levico Terme), determined to play his part in fulfilling the multiple objectives of the team, including a possible stage victory, which was also a goal for Poels.
Both attacked repeatedly to pressure the race leader, Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl Trek), on the long climb towards Palù del Fersina, where Antonio accelerated with 33km to go. Wout then went solo a few km after his teammate’s forays, taking the KOM points. On the descent the Dutch champion couldn’t keep the 30 seconds gap he had gained by the top and was caught with 16km to go by the group of favourites.
On the way towards the finish, the last climb, the Valico di Tenna, was not enough to make the race explode and the reduced group, which included two Victorious riders and GC leader Lopez, battled for the stage win in a fast finale. In the sprint Tiberi was beaten by Aurelien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R), whose brother Valentin was third.
“We tried several times both me and Wout but on the climb it was impossible to make the difference today, as everybody seemed to be enough strong to keep a good rhythm,” said the Italian.
“After Wout was caught back we went fast and furious towards the last kick, where Bardet accelerated and I was surprised that we could still not have made a strong selection. I’m satisfied with today’s result and my performance here at the Tour of the Alps in general. I feel I improved physically and mentally. I proved that I can compete with the strongest riders. I have still something to improve, but I was coming from a period of high altitude training, and I can be happy with what I achieved so far.”
Second place was enough to ensure Tiberi both third spot on the overall podium, and the white jersey. Poels finished fifth in the stage and sixth GC. Thanks to this outcome and the good work of Torstein Træen and Alberto Bruttomesso, Bahrain Victorious could celebrate winning the title of ‘Best Team’.
Bahrain Victorious sports director Franco Pellizotti expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance. “We came here with the goal of being in the top 3 GC and a stage win. We missed it but we were very close to it today. We tried, and the boys rode well, especially today. We have to consider that we were left with just a few riders in this race to support our leaders. What we are most happy about is the shape of Antonio ahead of the next important races of the season,” he said.
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