"Starting the season with such a result is incredible" - Santiago Buitrago and Bahrain Victorious put UAE Team Emirates – XRG to the sword
Cycling
Santiago Buitrago secured the biggest stage race victory of his career, winning the general classification at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana. The Colombian’s triumph in the five-day race was largely built on his impressive stage 4 win, where he outpaced Joao Almeida in a decisive battle for victory.
Buitrago finished 18 seconds ahead of Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) in the overall standings, while his Bahrain Victorious teammate Pello Bilbao completed the podium, taking third place at 39 seconds behind.
It was a highly successful race for Bahrain Victorious, who wrapped up the event with two stage wins, two second-place finishes, the points classification—defended by Buitrago—and the best team classification, capping off a dominant performance.
“It’s a fantastic feeling. I was already super happy after yesterday’s result and to wear the leader’s jersey this morning, but you never know until the very end,” Buitrago said in a team press release. “I have to give a huge thank you to my teammates. Today could have been tricky, but they worked exceptionally well to keep everything under control. I share this GC victory with them. Starting the season with such a result is incredible.”
At just 25 years old, Buitrago has already established himself as a strong climber, with two Giro d’Italia stage wins to his name—the most recent coming in 2024. His victory in Valencia marks one of the standout moments of his career so far, raising the question of what more 2025 could have in store for him.
Bahrain Victorious’ Sports Director, Roman Kreuziger, praised the team’s performance, reflecting on their success over the five days. “We couldn’t have asked for more. We set out to win a stage and took two. We aimed for a top-three GC finish, and we secured two spots on the podium—including the overall victory. Plus, we won the team classification. It’s something to be very proud of.”
Kreuziger highlighted the team’s discipline and execution throughout the race. “We had to stay alert, but the team executed the plan perfectly, just as they did throughout the week,” he added. “The riders showed great form, and this victory is crucial for building confidence ahead of the next races. We’ll stay grounded, but with this group, we know we can achieve even more.”
With such a strong start to the season, Bahrain Victorious and Buitrago will certainly be looking to build on this momentum as the year progresses.
Fin MajorCycling Journalist
Fin Major is a UK-based writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2024. He is the site’s main writer for FAQs and evergreen explainers and has written around 2,000 pieces for the platform. Alongside this work, he focuses on in-depth analysis and covers the biggest races on the calendar, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, providing clear context around performance trends, tactics, and key storylines.
In his reporting, Fin uses reputable data sources such as 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. Outside of writing, Fin is an active cyclist, which supports his practical understanding of the sport and its demands.
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- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- What a travesty ! That little deviation did nothing to impede Brand !frieders307-11-2026
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