Bahrain Victorious wins team classification

After three hard weeks, Team Bahrain Victorious was named winner of the team classification at the 108th Tour de France, celebrating three stage wins along the way.

The riders also achieved success at the first edition of the Settimana Ciclistica Italiana with Santiago Buitrago winning KOM classification for the race.

Storm, rain, heat and vertiginous ascents threw significant challenges at the riders with the narrow streets in Brittany contibuting to a number of crashes right from the start. One of these brought down Jack Haig, forcing the Australian to abandon the race early on due to a broken collarbone. In a repeat of what had happened at the Giro d’Italia two months earlier, the riders in red and black weren't discouraged by this loss; they switched to an attacking style of racing that helped them break away repeatedly.

Throughout the next two and a half weeks this riding style was rewarded with three stage wins: Matej Mohoric soloed to win two transitional stages and Dylan Teuns won a tough, rainy stage in the Alps. The battle for the KOM classification led to climbing sprints, with Wout Poels only losing the polka dot jersey on the last climb to overall winner Tadej Pogacar. Sonny Colbrelli  frequently scoried points in the intermediate sprints;  finishing two brutal mountain stages in 2nd and 3rd respectively, he delivered a brilliant performance.

Whilst the most valuable success for Team Bahrain Victorious was the win in the team classification, as the best-placed rider in the overall standings, Pello Bilbai finished the 108th Tour de France in 9th place, with Wout Poels following in 16th and Dylan Teuns in 17th. Matej Mohoric clocked up the most as  kilometers in breakaways throughout this edition of the Tour de France. The team rank 3rd in prize money for the tour. 

Sadly, Team Bahrain Victorious missed out on a stage win at the first edition of the Settimana Ciclistica Italiana, a five-stage race held on the island of Sardegna. Jonathan Milan got closest when he finished a stage in 2nd in a photo finish, and Mark Padun finished the highly demanding 4th stage in 5th place. Colombian climber Santiago Buitrago made good use of these climbs to take over the KOM jersey and defend it on the last day of racing. Bahrain Victorious finished the race in 2nd position.

108TH TOUR DE FRANCE, TEAM CLASSIFICATION:
1. TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, BAH, in 249:16.47 hours
2. EF Education - Nippo, USA, + 19.12 minutes
3. Team Jumbo-Visma, NED, + 1:11.35 hours

CLIMBERS’ CLASSIFICATION:
1. Tadej Pogacar, SLO, 107 points
2. Wout Poels, NED/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, 88 points
3. Jonas Vingegaard, DEN, 82 points

POINTS CLASSIFICATION:
1. Mark Cavendish, GBR, 337 points
2. Michael Matthews, AUS, 291 points
3. Sonny Colbrelli, ITA/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, 227 points

SETTIMANA CICLISTICA ITALIANA, CLIMBERS’ CLASSIFICATION:
1. Santiago Buitrago, COL/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, 34 points
2. Jonas Abrahamsen, NOR, 28 points
3. Simon Pellaud, SUI, 27 points