2025 Season Review | Bahrain - Victorious: Martínez, Tiberi, Buitrago, Mohoric... Did the team deliver on its potential?

In today’s season review, we’re looking at Bahrain – Victorious. The 2025 season was supposed to mark another leap forward for the squad, a team entering its ninth year at the sport’s highest level. With a mix of established names and emerging stars too, expectations were high for big results and some progress across both one-day races and Grand Tours. Instead, the year delivered a little of everything, a strong start, flashes of brilliance from new talent, and a long list of “what-ifs.” Eight victories made for a decent tally on paper, but inside the team, even management admitted it was “not a good year” by their own standards.

Bahrain Victorious built its 2025 campaign around a roster designed to win in almost any terrain. Matej Mohoric, a proven Classics performer and 2022 Milano-Sanremo winner, was expected to anchor their one-day ambitions. Pello Bilbao and Santiago Buitrago carried the team’s Grand Tour hopes, backed by the likes of Damiano Caruso and Fred Wright. The biggest buzz, however, surrounded 22-year-old Lenny Martinez, the French climber signed to spark a new era for the Bahrain-backed squad.

Across the calendar, Bahrain Victorious notched eight UCI wins, respectable… but well short of preseason targets. The high point came early when Buitrago dominated the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana with two stage wins and the overall title, leading a 1-2 finish ahead of Bilbao. Martinez added three WorldTour stage wins later in the year, confirming his talent as one of the peloton’s most promising young climbers.

Yet momentum faded as the season wore on. By autumn, the team was often riding for minor placings rather than trophies. They ended ninth in the WorldTour standings — a statistical improvement, but not a breakthrough.

Bahrain’s spring began brightly but stalled once the cobbles came out. Wright was their standout, finishing tenth at Milano-Sanremo and ninth at Paris–Roubaix. His run signalled growing maturity as a Classics specialist, and he can definitely be happy with his start to 2025.

But Matej Mohoric…what happened?

Mohoric, usually their headline act, endured what he called “probably my worst ever in terms of results.” His best finish was 21st at the Tour of Flanders, a far cry from his usual contention. Bilbao’s 29th at Liège showed commitment in a supporting role, yet the team never found the killer edge. They were visible, combative, and often in the mix, but not on the podium. The lack of a decisive finisher for the monuments became glaring as the spring unfolded, and they really missed Mohoric firing on all cylinders.

The Giro d’Italia offered Bahrain Victorious a glimmer of the old magic. Caruso, ever reliable, rode into fifth overall through steady climbing and tactical discipline, and gathered a much needed 200 points for the team with his effort. His performance carried the squad after Antonio Tiberi’s promising start was derailed by a crash. There were no stage wins in Italy, but Caruso’s consistency salvaged credibility and reminded everyone why he remains one of the peloton’s most dependable veterans.

The Tour de France was built around Lenny Martinez’s campaign for the mountains classification, and he was arguably the most highly regarded Frenchman heading into the race. On Bastille Day, Martinez thrilled home fans by seizing the polka-dot jersey. He eventually finished third in that competition behind only Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, an impressive showing for a man riding just his second Tour.

And there was a certain (super) sticky bottle moment in the third week…

The team, however, again left without a stage win. “Not everything went to plan,” management admitted afterward. Bahrain’s attacking intent earned praise, but the results sheet stayed empty.

The Vuelta a Espana brought more drama. Caruso’s pre-race injury forced a last-minute reshuffle, leaving Tiberi as sole leader. The surprise came from Norwegian climber Torstein Træen, who captured the red leader’s jersey after a daring breakaway on Stage 6. Træen defended heroically before yielding to the inevitable charge from the pre-race favourites. But, after the fun of the days in red, Bahrain – Victorious’ Vuelta faded in the second half, and they completed a clean sweep of no wins at any of the three grand tours in 2025. And that, on cycling’s biggest stage, is never a good sign.

Change was inevitable after such a mixed campaign. Bahrain - Victorious heads into 2026 with a leaner roster and several significant departures. Fred Wright, fresh off his top-ten Monument finishes, joins Q36.5 in search of more leadership opportunities. His exit leaves a clear gap in the team’s Classics squad. Jack Haig does not have a contract for 2026, while climbers Torstein Træen and Rainer Kepplinger are also looking to put pen to paper.

The most important retention could be that of Mohoric. Out of contract this year, the Slovenian is widely expected to stay, and it’s hard to see Mohorič not being signed given his stature. His presence would maintain leadership stability, particularly for one-day races, while younger riders continue to develop.

Of all the transfer rumours, it is vital the Bahrain a) resecure the services of Mohoric and b) find a way to get him back to his blistering best.

In pure numbers, Bahrain Victorious’ 2025 season wasn’t disastrous. They improved their points total and found a new star in Martinez, who looks set to provide moments of excitement in the coming years. Buitrago’s early-season performances, Caruso’s top-five Giro ride, and Træen’s brief stint in red all underscored that the squad still has competitive bite. But eight wins, none in Grand Tours or Monuments, felt like an underachievement for a roster that does have some stand out riders.. The consistency wasn’t there, and the flashes of excellence never translated into a sustained run of victories.

The campaign ends as a very average one, progress in some areas, stagnation in others. The upside is that Bahrain now knows where it stands: strong foundations, emerging youth, and the need for a sharper edge when the stakes are highest. If Martinez continues his upward curve and the new signings settle quickly, 2026 could be a springboard rather than another rebuild. The ingredients for success are present you would say, the team simply needs to convert intent into impact.

For now, Bahrain Victorious gets a 6 out of 10, a passable season defined by glimpses of promise and lingering frustration. The message heading into next year is simple: fewer near-misses, more victories.

As a fan, I found Bahrain Victorious’ 2025 season frustrating. They had flashes of brilliance, Martinez in polka dots, Caruso's solid Giro, but never quite delivered when it mattered most. The lack of a single Grand Tour stage win really stood out, especially given their roster strength. It felt like a year of near-misses and underachievement. I’m hopeful the young signings will turn things around in 2026, but for now, it was a season that promised more than it gave. And where was Mohoric all year!

Ondrej Zhasil (CyclingUpToDate)  

Before I proceed with rating Bahrain, there is one question that needs to be asked. "What is the team's identity?" The answer is a GC team. Bahrain has all these supposed GC contenders at Grand Tours with Pello Bilbao, Damiano Caruso, Santiago Buitrago, Antonio Tiberi or its new star Lenny Martinez. In that sense, it's very disappointing that only Caruso of the listed quintet was able to finish fifth at the Giro (and that was massively helped by multiple star abandons).

That Torstein Traeen was the second-best Bahrain rider at Grand Tours with a 9th place at Vuelta should be a good reason for the team leaders both in and off the bike to take a serious look in the mirror this off-season. Yes, the team was active, we've seen Bilbao and Martinez a lot in the breakaways, Traeen briefly featured in red at Vuelta, but is that all Bahrain has to offer? Visibility and few days in distinctive jerseys?

The best rider of Bahrain by far was in any case Martinez who was able to secure all three WorldTour victories of Bahrain this year, finishing 2nd overall at Tour de Romandie. For a second year in a row, I'm generally speaking heavily disappointed in Bahrain, although there is a sliver of hope into the future with riders like Finlay Pickering, Afonso Eulálio or Edoardo Zambanini taking some interesting step ups away from the main attention. To sum up, my feelings about Bahrain are very similar to those I had with Arkéa and thus my rating of Bahrain - Victorious' season is 2/10.  

Bahrain's season was just bland, let's say. Solid, not horrible, but simply lacking anything memorable. I can't go as far as saying it was a bad or horrible season, when you put the veteran Damiano Caruso's fifth place at the Giro on the table you get a massive and incredibly positive surprise. And there were other, such as the unlikely signing of Lenny Martínez and his development as the ultra-lightweight pure climber that reminds me of the old José Rujano...

But it's not enough to save a season. 8 wins, from only 3 riders. A Matej Mohoric that simply did not strike, an Antonio Tiberi that promised but didn't have luck on his side, a Pello Bilbao that was always there but of course there's limits to what he can do in a peloton of this quality. You've got Santiago Buitrago who has started the season so strongly and looked like he could take the next step in 2025 but this didn't prove to be the case. Phil Bauhaus also didn't have any memorable moment I will say... Torstein Traeen was a nice surprise at La Vuelta but you can't expect a team of this budget to be happy settling for a Top10 in a Grand Tour can you.

Lenny Martínez did good, and to be fair to the team, if the Tour de France had a regular KOM points system he would've won the jersey, which would've been important yes. But in the end he did not. The team continues to have the same issue which is that it has several 2nd/3rd tier climbers that make for an excellent block but do not have A leader. Tiberi may become, but he took a step back this year due to crashes and illnesses, and so the team remains stale to a certain degree.

But this wasn't to be fully unexpected. Nine signings into 2025, many of them small and young riders whom the team has signed taking a risk, trying to find new leaders. At their training camp last December there were plenty names I saw that had never really come through any conversation I've had. I'm obviously biased towards Afonso Eulálio, but I was hugely impressed by his season, and versatility not only as a pure climber but as a potential classics rider in the making. He might be the team's risk that will pay off the most.