| SECOND PLACE FINISH OVERALL AT VUELTA A BURGOS FOR MIKEL LANDA AND A THIRD PLACE FINISH FOR SONNY COLBRELLI ON THE OPENING STAGE OF THE ROUTE D’OCCITANIE. |
| Saturday, August 1st – First race after a long period finished well for the Spanish climber and the leader of the Team Bahrain McLaren, Mikel Landa. Podium finish for Mikel at Vuelta Burgos was something he has as his goal, and after he performed better at each passing day, he expectedly finished the five-day race on the second position. |
| After the race, Mikel commented: “It’s been a nice week. After a long time without races, the team came back in good shape. We rode very well together, the sprinters as well as the climbers. I am happy with the team’s work and my performance, which was better day by day. At the end, we didn’t have a first place position, but since we came back to racing after a long period, I have to be happy with the second position.” After Vuelta a Burgos, Mikel will do tomorrow’s home race, Circuito de Getxo, which he likes a lot, despite it not being a climber’s race. “Tomorrow is going to be the only race in the Basque region where there will be my family and friends, and I am excited to be there”. |
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| Sports director Gorazd Štangelj was satisfied after the finish at Vuelta a Burgos: ” We raced well from the start of the race until the end. We are happy with the result, for sure it would be nicer to have won today’s stage. We have been close a few times, we have performed well at the sprinter stages, on the uphill, we always finished very close, the team overall did a great job.” |
| Aritz Arberas, the team coach commented on the race: “We are definitely on the track. Mikel was attacking in the race which means we have done a good job during the training period and training camps. All the work we have done, we say it is there in the legs. The main goal of that race was to gain the speed and to get kilometres in the legs.” |
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| Team Bahrain McLaren was competing also in the four-day race “Route d’Occitanie” that started today with a stage featuring a finale that suited sprinters (Saint-Affrique – Cazouls-les-Béziers, 187km). |
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| On the rolling course, our boys worked hard to control the day’s breakaway, and as expected the peloton regrouped for the bunch sprint. |
| “I opened the sprint too early and that’s it.”, Sonny Colbrelli commented. “Unfortunately, it was not the right move to win the stage and I finished in third place, behind Viviani and the winner Coquard.” |
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| Team Bahrain McLaren Sports Director Tristan Hoffman praised the team and in particular the young riders Inkelaar, Davies, and Buitrago that were working hard in the front of the peloton to catch the breakaway: “One of our aims was to have these young riders gain experience and they did an excellent job today. Too bad not finishing off with a win, but Colbrelli will have other opportunities starting from tomorrow’s stage”. |
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