CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious enjoyed another fantastic day at La Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana yesterday, with Santiago Buitrago securing a second extraordinary victory and taking over as the new overall leader.
The Colombian climber won the 181-kilometre fourth and penultimate stage in an explosive finale, where he reeled in the late attack of Jefferson Cepeda of Movistar team before launching the decisive counterattack with two km to go.
Buitrago then powered to victory with a six-second gap over Jonathan Milan and Jakob Söderqvist, both Lidl-Trek riders.
“I can’t describe how happy I am,” said Buitrago after celebrating his second stage victory in this year’s race. “Today, I was mainly focused on gaining bonus seconds to take the leader’s jersey, and to be honest, the win was quite unexpected.
“We thought it would be a day for the sprinters, like our former teammate Jonathan Milan, but in the finale, I was at the front with Pello (Bilbao), and we decided it was worth trying.
“I accelerated, went all in, and made it happen. It’s incredible – we thought it would be difficult to take back seconds in the general classification (GC), and instead, we took both the stage win and the leader’s jersey.”
Bahrain Victorious riders were attentive all day, managing the breakaway and staying in control of the race. On Alto de Vistabella del Maestrat, the final major climb of the stage, Lenny Martinez tried to get away with another rider, but the peloton didn’t let them go.
Only Pablo Castrillo of Movistar managed to escape, bridging to the only remaining member of the breakaway before attempting a solo attack with 60km left. However, he was caught with nine km to go.
In the technical and challenging finale, Cepeda made a bold move, gaining a maximum of 15 seconds, but Buitrago timed his effort perfectly, catching the Ecuadorian just before the final steep ramp. Milan tried to create a gap, but in the end, Buitrago was simply the strongest, taking the win and the leader’s jersey.
Heading into the final stage, Buitrago leads the GC, with Joao Almeida of UAE Team Emirates-XRG trailing by 18 seconds. He also retains the orange points classification jersey.
“There’s one more day, and it will be a hard one, but we have a strong team that can support me to defend this jersey,” Buitrago said.
Bahrain Victorious will also look to secure Bilbao’s podium position in third overall and maintain their lead in the team classification.
Reflecting on the team’s effort, sports director Roman Kreuziger praised the squad’s execution. “Hats off to our boys for how they handled today’s stage,” he said. “Movistar made the race hard, attacking and keeping the pace high, but we managed it well.
“We initially aimed for bonus seconds, but when the gap was too big, we regrouped and adjusted our strategy. The guys followed orders perfectly and played it smart in the finale.
“Result-wise, it was an excellent day. I couldn’t be happier.
“Tomorrow, we have one last challenge – it will be a tough job, but we’re confident that we can finish strong.”
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