Pello Bilbao & Santiago Buitrago lead Bahrain - Victorious charge at La Fleche Wallonne

After a top-10 finish at the Amstel Gold Race last weekend, Pello Bilbao will again hope to be heavily involved in the final for Bahrain - Victorious at the upcoming La Fleche Wallonne.

"It’s a proper climbers’ classic. Some people say it’s a warm-up race for Liège, but I don’t agree; the two races are completely different. Liège is much longer, and Flèche is much more punchy," previews sports director, Roman Kreuziger as he announces support for Bilbao from most notably Santiago Buitrago and Edoardo Zambanini. “We have some fresh guys coming in for the last week of the Spring classics – Zamba has showed great shape recently, and Santi is really on top form this year. He’s recovered very well after his crashes at Paris-Nice last month and has made these two events a priority. His numbers are looking really good and we’re confident that he will do well."

"Pello has shown great form since arriving here, but I guess on paper the finale suits Santi better. None of that matters though, if we don’t deliver him to the right place at 900m which is going to be a big challenge," Kreuziger continues. "It’s good that we have a couple of big riders here too in Łukasz Wiśniowski and Fran Miholjević to protect our leaders from the weather."

"I would like to see both our leaders in the top ten, with one on the podium, not just because I think that’s realistic, but also because it’s good to go that deep before ‘The Old Lady’ next Sunday," the sports director concludes.

Pello Bilbao, Santiago Buitrago, Edoardo Zambanini, Lukasz Wisniowski, Fran Miholjević, Yukiya Arashiro and Nicolo Buratti.