13/02/2024

"On paper the strongest rider is Santiago Buitrago" - Bahrain - Victorious full of confidence heading into Vuelta a Andalucia

After finishing third overall last year, behind overall winner Tadej Pogacar and then-teammate Mikel Landa, Santiago Buitrago returns to the Vuelta a Andalucia in 2024 as the undisputed leader of Bahrain - Victorious this time around.

“We have a strong team and on paper the strongest rider is Santiago. Ahead of the race he is our only leader," previews Bahrain - Victorious sports director, Gorazd Štangelj in a pre-race conversation with the team's official website. "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 1 we’ll re-assess, and it may be that we have to adjust each rider’s role.”

Preliminary startlist Vuelta a Andalucia with Juan Ayuso, Victor Lafay, Santiago Buitrago, Tim Wellens and Ruben Guerreiro

With the likes of Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig and Wout Poels in support of Buitrago, the team go there with clear ambitions of taking overall victory. “We have the strongest team, and that brings a lot of responsibility, which we will have to find a way to deal with," acknowledges Štangelj. "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!”

“Our primary goal is to win at least one stage and to win the GC," the sports director concludes. "We would like to have more than one rider in the top 3 overall, and more than 2 riders in the top 10. I think this is very possible, but of course, even though it looks like we have the strongest team, that won’t be easy.”