Pello Bilbao podiums at UAE Tour

On the conclusive weekend of the UAE Tour, Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS rode to a 3rd and then a 2nd place in the stages, with Pello Bilbao finishing the race in the Middle East in 3rd place on GC. At the two Belgian semi-classics Omloop het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on the other hand, the team missed out on a top 10 result.

Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS lined up for the UAE Tour with two goals: Pello Bilbao was to compete for the overall win on GC, relying on the support of Rainer Kepplinger and Torstein Traeen. The team also had an eye on stage wins as sprinter Phil Bauhaus took the start of the race as well, with Nikias Arndt, Cameron Scott and Johan Price-Pejtersen as his lead-out. On the second day, the team showed a strong performance in the ITT, seeing three of its riders finish within the top 10, with Rainer Kepplinger in 5th, Johan Price Pejtersen in 7th, and Pello Bilbao in 8th, the latter only conceding a few seconds to his main rivals on GC.

Phil Bauhaus was improving day by day in the hotly-contested sprints. After crossing the line in 9th on day one, the German finished in 8th, 6th and 3rd, respectively. Before the last stage finishing atop Jebel Hafeet, Pello Bilbao was placed in 5th on GC, and the last stage was being ridden on his birthday. Anyone who had expected an easy ride to the foot of the final climb was wrong: crosswinds split the peloton into multiple echelons, and Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS had to ride hard for more than 20 kilometres to set the situation straight. Once the final climb started for real, Brandon McNulty and Jay Vine, as the race leader and the 3rd placed rider on GC, soon lost contact. Seen the small time gaps the fight for the overall win was wide open.

After Torstein Traeen had set a fast pace for Pello Bilbao, the latter attacked twice and caught up with the last breakaway rider with about 3 kilometres to go. But Bilbao could not distance his main rivals, and thus, the speed dropped again. The decisive move for the stage win came on the penultimate kilometre when Lennert Van Eetvelt went up the road. The young Belgian rider powered on solo all the way to the finish line and put 22 seconds into Pello Bilbao as the first chaser, winning the UAE Tour's GC thanks to bonification seconds. While Pello Bilbao had missed out on the stage win, conceding that he had ridden the finale too much with his heart and not with a cool enough head, he still got to celebrate a 2nd place on the stage and a 3rd place on GC.   

This week Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS was also competing at the Belgian semi-classics Omloop het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. At the Omloop het Nieuwsblad the team rode an unlucky race. None of its riders made it into the move when a very strong group went up the road with 140 kilometres to go. From there Matej Mohoric, as the designated captain, never made it back to the sharp end of the race despite a serious effort in giving chase. In the end, the Slovene crossed the finish line 8 seconds behind the day's winner, Jan Tratnik, as part of the first large group of chasers. Since he did not contest the sprint for 3rd place, he missed out on a top 20 result.

One day later, the riders of Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS rode much more actively at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. While they could not follow Wout Van Aert's attack with 88 kilometeres to go, Matej Mohoric worked his way into a first chase group of three, with Fred Wright following as part of another trio. With 20 kilometers to go a top5 and an additional top10 result seemed within reach, but the peloton swallowed up both chasing trios on the final local lap. Fred Wright tried to contest the ensuing sprint for 4th place, but England's reigning national road champion had already spent too much energy throughout this semi-classic and got swamped, finishing outside the top 20.

6TH UAE TOUR, STAGE 6: LOUVRE ABU DHABI MUSEUM - ABU DHABI BREAKWATER, 138KM
1. Tim Merlier, BEL, in 3:02.14 hours
2. Arvid de Kleijn, NED, st
3. Phil Bauhaus, GER/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, st

STAGE 7: AL AIN BAIT MOHAMMED BIN KHALIFA - JEBEL HAFEET, 161KM
1. Lennert Van Eetvelt, BEL, in 3:38.28 hours
2. Pello Bilbao, ESP/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, + 0.22
3. Ben O’Connor, AUS, st

FINAL OVERALL STANDINGS:
1. Lennert Van Eetvelt, BEL, in 3:38.28 hours
2. Ben O’Connor, AUS, + 0.02
3. Pello Bilbao, ESP/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, + 0.11

TEAM CLASSIFICATION:
1. Lidl-Trek, USA, in 67:38.53 hours
2. Soudal-Quick Step, BEL, + 2.50
3. TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, BHR, + 5:26

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency