Report
Stage 4 of the Volta Valenciana was supposed to be a day for the sprinters. You know, the kind of stage where everyone pretends to care about the breakaway for five hours before the big boys flex their quads in the final kilometer and the rest of us yawn into our espressos. But Santiago Buitrago, the ever-polite Colombian, decided to crash the sprint party and take home not just the stage win but the leader’s jersey too. Rude? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely.
The day started with the usual suspects: a breakaway of plucky adventurers who knew their fate was to be swallowed whole by the peloton. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) tried to spice things up with a solo flyer 60 km from the finish, but let’s be honest, we all knew how that was going to end. Spoiler: it ended with him being reeled in like a particularly unlucky fish.
Then, just when everyone was dusting off their sprint trains, Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar) decided to have a go. He built up a 15-second lead, which in cycling terms is basically a light-year. But Buitrago, clearly not content with just bonus seconds, decided to turn the finale into his personal highlight reel. With 2 km to go, he surged past Cepeda like a man late for a dinner reservation, leaving everyone else to fight for scraps. Jonathan Milan and Jakob Söderqvist (both Lidl-Trek) rolled in for second and third, probably wondering why they bothered bringing their sprint legs at all.
Buitrago’s post-race comments were the epitome of humility: “I was just here for the bonus seconds, but I guess I’ll take the stage win and the leader’s jersey too. No big deal.” Okay, he didn’t say it exactly like that, but you get the vibe. Meanwhile, Pello Bilbao, the ever-loyal lieutenant, deserves a medal for his role in this heist. Or at least a nice bottle of Rioja.
The GC standings now have Buitrago in the lead, with João Almeida (UAE) lurking 18 seconds back. Almeida, who probably thought he had this whole Valenciana thing under control, now has to figure out how to claw back time on a rider who clearly doesn’t know when to stop winning.
As for Bahrain Victorious, they’re having the kind of week most teams dream about. They’ve got the leader’s jersey, a podium spot for Bilbao, and a commanding lead in the team classification. Roman Kreuziger, their sports director, was practically giddy in his post-race interview, praising his riders for their “perfect execution.” Translation: “We planned for a sprint, but hey, we’ll take this too.”
So, as we head into the final stage, the question isn’t just whether Buitrago can hold onto the jersey. It’s whether anyone can stop Bahrain Victorious from turning this race into their own personal victory parade. One thing’s for sure: if you thought this race was predictable, you haven’t been paying attention.
And to the sprinters who thought today was their day: better luck next time. Maybe try a flatter stage. Or a different race.
Results
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