20/04/2024

Strong Bahrain - Victorious take Pello Bilbao, Santiago Buitrago, Wout Poels & Antonio Tiberi to Liege-Bastogne-Liege

After strong performances at the Tour of the Alps and La Fleche Wallonne during the week, Bahrain - Victorious heads to Liege-Bastogne-Liege with a strong team, packed with different options.

Wout Poels and Antonio Tiberi both looked bright at the Tour of the Alps last week, finishing 6th and 3rd overall respectively, and the duo will head straight to Belgium this Saturday, with the hope of continuing their good form on Sunday at the fourth monument of the season. Pello Bilbao, who despite having a DNF at La Fleche Wallonne will be confident having secured a top-10 at the Amstel Gold Race last weekend, also present a viable option for the team, as does Santiago Buitrago, who finished 5th at La Fleche Wallonne.

PREVIEW | Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024 - Tadej Pogacar battles Mathieu van der Poel, but brutal weather may throw in a surprise

“Liege is emotional for me: it’s my first monument of the year and has been marked out as an objective to equal what I did here last year. So I’m super motivated. We have a really good team, with Wout Poels coming, and Antonio Tiberi. They’re going to work so well, and I think that Pello and I can do great things together in the finale too," previews Buitrago to Bahrain - Victorious' website. "My preparation has been great for Liege, but the route is really tough, plus there are guys like Pogacar & van der Poel, so we will need be alert all the time, looking out for long-range moves. I am genuinely confident; I really believe we can get on that podium again”

“With Tadej & Mathieu here, no-one is considering us as top contenders, but our line-up is strong. Having said that, if we are to achieve our goals we will need to race as a team and be ready to follow any strong move from as early as 150km," adds sports director Roman Kreuziger. "We will have to see how much Wout & Antonio have left in the tank after their efforts at TotA, but traditionally guys can perform well coming straight from there; as Santi did last year for example. Like everyone, Pello suffered in the cold on Wednesday, but this is a parcours better suited to him, he’s confident, in great shape, and the forecast is considerably better, thank goodness!”