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Santiago Buitrago gave Bahrain Victorious their first win of 2025 on the Alto de Partegat hilltop finish on the Volta a Valenciana, catching and passing teammate Pello Bilbao within the last kilometre.
The Colombian was in a position to sit on the wheels as the opposite groups chased Bilbao after which jumped away, to guarantee victory for his group.
Bilbao completed eight seconds down on Buitrago, with a robust João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) third at 13 seconds. The different big-name general contenders have been scattered throughout a minute.
Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) went deep to strive to preserve the chief’s yellow jersey. He completed thirteenth, solely 57 seconds down on Buitrago and so stored the race lead by simply a few seconds, thanks to Lidl-Trek’s dominant victory within the stage 1 group time trial.
Almeida is just two seconds down on Vacek, with Buitrago third general at 5 seconds.
Bahrain Victorious misplaced 1:11 to Lidl-Trek within the stage 1 group time trial however Buitrago and Bilbao pulled again time on lots of his general rivals earlier than extra hilly phases to Alpuente after which Portell de Morella.
How it unfolded
The 166km second stage from La Nucía to Benifato (Font de Partegat) visited the coaching roads many riders use throughout winter coaching camps close to the Costa Blanca, Alicante and the Valencia area.
The early climbs made a good springboard for assaults earlier than a trip alongside the shoreline and again into the hills.
Riders from the US Project Echelon Racing group have been lively and went on the assault however 5 riders finally received away and got their freedom. They have been Samuele Zoccarato (Polti VisitMalta), Matyáš Kopecký (Team Novo Nordisk), Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellet BH), Quentin Bezza (Wagner Bazin WB) and Vicente Rojas (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
Zoccarato turned the digital race lead as Lidl-Trek managed the peloton and allowed the break to open a four-minute lead.
The race modified with 65km to go when the race hit the Coll de Rates, the now well-known coaching climb, the place Tadej Pogačar took the Strava file in December with a group effort and highly effective trip.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG and particularly Ivo Oliveira took over on the entrance of the peloton, decreasing the hole to the breakaway. The break quickly fell aside on the climb, with solely Kopecký and Fernández staying clear. They made it excessive of the climb however have been within reach on the quick, sweeping descent.
The peloton got here again along with 25km to go as the ultimate climb neared. The 5.5km Benimantell fashioned step one up to the finish, with the next climb to Alto de Partegat some 4.3km lengthy however at 9.4%.
Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) took off alone at this level because the British group lived up to their promise to race extra aggressively. He opened a 20-second hole and compelled rival groups to present their hand. Behind, Almeida rode on the entrance, splitting the chase group and hurting everybody, as many riders suffered on their 2025 debut and first huge race effort.
Foss made it to the Benimantell KOM however Almeida’s surge finally drew out Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Iván Romeo (Movistar). They then jumped throughout to Foss and the trio started the Alto de Partegat with a handful of seconds.
The trio opened a 15-second hole and appeared doubtless to keep clear however Almeida did some extra big turns and refused to allow them to go. Foss after which Romeo cracked however Bilbao pushed on and appeared in management, even when the hole fell progressively because the gradient steepened.
Perhaps ordered by his Bahrain Victorious group automotive or instinctively, Buitrago took off alone with 600 metres to go. He dropped Almeida and everybody else, cruelly surged previous Bilbao and gained the stage.
Results
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