2nd place for Sonny Colbrelli in Montreal

The BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM showed a strong performance at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. In the end, Sonny Colbrelli narrowly missed out on the win. At the same time, the team is leading the team classification on the second day of the Vuelta a España, and Ion Izagirre has kept himself in the top10 of the overall standings.

While eight riders of the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM are currently competing at the Vuelta a España, a second group of athletes traveled across the Atlantic Ocean for the two Canadian one-day Worldtour races Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. The designated captain for these races was Sonny Colbrelli, but by fielding riders such as Grega Bole, Matej Mohoric and Enrico Gasparotto, the team was well-prepared for alternative outcomes of the race as well. Heinrich Haussler, Kristijan Koren, and Domenico Pozzovivo were riding in their support. As for the first race, Sonny Colbrelli could not keep up with the pace of the peloton on the hilly course that had to be ridden no less than 16 times. Thus Matej Mohoric tried his hand at the sprint on the ascending finishing straight after an aggressive race, but he accelerated a bit too early and got passed by many riders - one of those being Domenico Pozzovivo who was the team’s best-placed rider in 20th.

Two days later Sonny Colbrelli felt a lot better and ready to make amends after Friday’s race. But at first it was another rider of the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM who rode into the spotlight in the finale of the race: Various counterattacks started as soon as the early lead group got into reach, and Mohoric was in the thick of the action, becoming the lone race leader after accelerating on a descent. Two more riders caught up with him, and this trio only got reeled in with about seven kilometers to go. Mohoric still had enough left in his tank to team up with Enrico Gasparotto, shut down some late attacks and pilot Sonny Colbrelli into an ideal position for the sprint of a reduced bunch. In this sprint, the Italian only got beaten by Michael Matthews. By finishing in 2nd in this Worldtour race, he added another valuable result to his own tally and to that of the team.«Its too bad that Matthews managed to pass me with only twenty meters to go. I accelerated from far away. Let me thank all guys of my team, the boys were very strong today. Anyway, it’s a good 2nd place», Sonny Colbrelli commented after the podium ceremony in Montreal.

At the Vuelta a España, the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM is performing strongly as a team, showing some aggressive racing that got rewarded by a number of podium results throughout the second week of the race. Joining strong lead groups in the stages 11 and 12, respectively both Franco Pellizotti and Mark Padun crossed the finish line in 3rd place. As for the 13th stage, the rider in Red, Gold and Dark blue in the lead group was Gorka Izagirre, and the Spaniard got awarded as the day’s most aggressive rider. Other athletes to show strong performances were Hermann Pernsteiner, Vincenzo Nibali and Ivan Cortina. As a proof of the strong performances, the team got awarded as the best team at the end of stage 8, and thanks to the presence in lead groups that would stay away all the way to the finish, the team took over the lead in the team classification after stage 12 and defended this lead throughout three hard days of racing in the mountains of the Asturias region. As for the overall standings, Ion Izagirre lost some time on these three stages but still managed to keep himself in the top10 of the overall standings in 9th place.

9TH GRAND PRIX CYCLISTE DE MONTRÉAL, 195.2KM:
1. Michael Matthews, AUS, in 5:19.27 hours
2. Sonny Colbrelli, ITA/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, st
3. Greg Van Avermaet, BEL, st

73RD VUELTA A ESPAÑA
TEAM CLASSIFICATION AFTER 15 STAGES:

1. BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, in 192:48.14 hours
2. Movistar Team, + 3.13
3. Bora-Hansgrohe, + 27.23