Torstein Træen's unexpected capture of the leader's jersey of the Vuelta a España will certainly earn him a few extra beers in Madrid, but as the 30-year-old Norwegian confirmed after stage 6, it won't change the Vuelta's main game plan for Bahrain Victorious at all.
Bahrain Victorious came to the Vuelta with the idea of battling for a good GC result and stage wins. With Antonio Tibieri's strong performance on the summit finish at Pal, the Italian racer remains a key part of the overall picture in Spain.
However, Træen's second place on the stage behind lone winner Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) gave the Norwegian his first-ever Grand Tour lead, and Bahrain Victorious at least one day on top of the GC classification.
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Træen explained, though, that while he was delighted to take the Vuelta lead, he has no idea how long he can hold it, and success with Tiberi will remain the main goal of the team.
"A few days ago, I was talking with the other Norwegian rider here, Johannes [Staune-Mittet] and how I was doing overall, and he said, ‘you’re a loser, because you’re so close on the actual GC'," Træen recounted.
"So I said to him, ‘when I take the red jersey after the Andorra stage, I don’t think you’ll call me a loser anymore!’ I think he owes me a few beers in Madrid now."
Taking the Vuelta lead is, in any case, almost certainly represents the biggest triumph of his career for Træen to date, although his fight against successful battle against testicular cancer a few years back also saw him make the headlines.
Træen had already won the climber's competition at the Tour of the Alps before he had an early diagnosis and treatment, then, post-recovery he held off Adam Yates for a memorable stage win in the 2024 Tour de Suisse.
A little over a year later, Træen's decision to go into the Vuelta's early break on stage 6 ended up seeing him capture la roja, although he said later he had not really thought it would be possible for much of the opening part of the day's racing.
"It was a tough fight to get into the breakaway. After that, Visma kept us close for 50 kilometers, but at some point, I realized there was a chance. I wanted to go for a stage win, too, but Vine was very strong, so I switched my goals to focusing on the red jersey," he explained.
"Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2 La Mondiale) was another major challenger, and I knew the last climb would be very tough. The last five kilometres were really long in particular."
Træen said that regardless of what happened in Andorra, his unexpected spell in red would not alter Bahrain's overall strategy.
"To be honest, he's a great bike rider, and we'll keep on fighting for him, and we'll see how many days we can keep the jersey. It doesn't change the tactics."
Træen's success, come what may, has distinct echoes of compatriot Odd Christian Eiking's spell in red in the 2021 Vuelta a España, when the Norwegian racer formed part of a break on stage 10. On that stage, race leader Primož Roglič allowed the move to gain enough margin for the non-GC favourite to move into the top spot overall. Eiking finally held the race lead for a week, but Træen says he has no idea how long he can remain on top in the Vuelta.
"I really don't have a clue, perhaps Jonas [Vingegaard] will get it back tomorrow," he said, "for now I'll just enjoy what I've done."
Thinking about those extra beers in Madrid will likely help keep the Norwegian a bit more motivated for the rest of the race, too.
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