| BRILLIANT PELLO BILBAO SPRINTS TO STAGE VICTORY AND THE LEADER’S JERSEY AT TOUR OF THE ALPS |
Day 2 of the Tour of the Alps was the Pelli & Pello show, as Sports Director Franco Pelizzotti masterminded a perfect performance from Bahrain Victorious, which was finished off by Pello Bilbao on an uphill finish in Lana.
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| It is the Spaniard’s 3rd career win at the Tour of the Alps, and means that he wears the green jersey for the first time. A great day was made even better when news came through that Santiago Buitrago had taken the white jersey for the best young rider as well! |
There was climbing straight from the start in Primiero/S. Martin di Castrozza – the cat 2 Passo Rolle, on whose slopes a 10 man breakaway formed, including GC danger men Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) & Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), along with our own Hermann Pernsteiner.
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| Halfway through the stage the break had around 2’30”, as the main test of the day began: the Passo della Mendola; 16kms at an average gradient of 6.5%. From this moment, our team led the peloton right until the final few metres in Lana – nearly 80kms on the front! |
With 30k remaining, Sivakov and Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ) were over a minute in front, but Pernsteiner (who had dropped back to join his teammates), Buitrago, Bilbao, and Mikel Landa – who worked like a one-man engine – pulled the Bahrain train closer to the escapees as the kilometres ticked down.
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| Having been confident of fighting it out between themselves for the win, incredibly the duo in front were caught with 9.6k left, and still the red & orange jerseys dominated on the front. |
As the bunch entered the uphill 2 kilometre drag to the line, Bahrain Victorious provided a lead out of which a sprint team would have been proud, leaving Bilbao an uncontested run in, and a chance to raise both arms ‘victorious’.
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| “We worked at our own pace, were super confident, and we always believed. The team did all the work, I just did the last 100metres to put the cherry on the cake. We really demonstrated that cycling is a team sport today,” said the stage winner afterwards. |
After a 2nd place yesterday, today’s triumph means Pello takes a 6 second advantage over Romain Bardet into Wednesday’s Queen stage. Meanwhile, 22 year old Colombian Buitrago is also in the top 10, and leads the young riders’ classification.
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| There is plenty to play for in the next 3 days, and Bilbao, Buitrago, & Bahrain are in pole position: |
| “After being close to victory here a few times, this year I have the responsibility to fight for the jersey. We have a powerful team, with Mikel and Santiago near in the GC too. That’s going to be important because we expect a crazy race like we’ve already seen for the first two stages.” |
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