Santiago Buitrago confides to mixed emotions after beating teammate Pello Bilbao: "It always leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth when you pass a teammate"
Cycling
Santiago Buitrago has entered the fight for the final overall classification of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana after his victory in the second stage. The Colombian rider of Bahrain - Victorious is now placed third, only 5 seconds behind leader Mathias Vacek and 3 seconds behind Joao Almeida.
Clearly hurt by the team time trial, the Bahrain leaders have bounced back and now enter the fight for top positions with both Buitrago and Pello Bilbao, who was second behind his teammate and is now ranked fourth, 18 seconds behind the GC leader. After the race, Buitrago talked about his feelings on the bike.
"Starting the season with a victory is amazing," Buitrago said in a press communication afterwards. "I’m super happy because this win is really important for me and for the team. It’s our first of the season, and that makes it even more special. The whole team put in an incredible effort, and I’m proud of the work everyone did today. This result gives us confidence for the rest of the season."
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There were plenty of attacks in the final of the stage, but the two Bahrain captains managed to navigate through the chaos safely, and regained their ground in the GC. "I didn't know how to act, I saw that we were getting closer to Pello, we knew we were 24, 25 seconds behind UAE and nothing... I just tried to get the biggest gap possible."
"To be honest, it always leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth when you pass a teammate but here we support each other and when one wins, we all win. It's unfortunate that we were so close to take the overall lead, but there are still three stages left."
Despite the promising position in the GC, Buitrago still doesn't see himself as the favorite and remains calm with view to tomorrow's stage which might be even more chaotic: "It's a race where there are two, three very aggressive days left and we know that Trek is a very strong team, just like their leader," he concludes.
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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