CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious rider Santiago Buitrago stayed in contention for the King of the Mountains (KoM) victory yesterday following the seventh and penultimate stage of the 77th Criterium du Dauphine in France.
The event is an elite men’s road race, held as part of this year’s UCI WorldTour calendar.
Buitrago remained tied with two other competitors atop the KoM standings heading into today’s eighth and final leg. Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Sergio Higuita of XDS Astana Team are the two others vying for the race’s polka dot jersey.
They all are on 27 points apiece, and today’s events will determine the category’s winner.
Pogacar is also the race’s overall leader on the general classification (GC). He won yesterday’s 131.6-kilometre stage – his second stage win in a row for the event and third overall.
Bahrain Victorious’ Torstein Traen was the team’s best finisher in 15th yesterday, followed by Buitrago in 19th. Jack Haig came 30th for their squad, while Lenny Martinez was 86th, Robert Stannard 96th, and Fred Wright 121st.
Haig and Buitrago are the top team members on the GC, being ranked 21st and 22nd, respectively. Buitrago made a massive 12-place jump in the ranking following yesterday’s action. Traen was not far behind in 28th after jumping 34 positions.
In the race’s points rankings, Wright was in 11th heading into today’s finale, while Martinez dropped to ninth in the best young rider classification.
The Bahrain Victorious squad, meanwhile, moved up one spot to second on the teams’ rankings, although they are over 29 minutes behind leaders Team Visma-Lease a Bike. Today’s final leg is set to feature 133.3km in distance, marking the culmination of the 1,199.6km race.
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