Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) attacked away solo in the final 10km to win the 2026 Trofeo Laigueglia, beating Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) and teammate Antonio Tiberi to top spot on Italy's Ligurian coast on Wednesday.
Racing with the numeric advantage for the final 15km, the Bahrain Victorious duo knew they had to get rid of the on-paper faster finisher, Grégoire, and it was Buitrago who did just that over the last ascent of the 1.9km Colla Micheri climb.
The Colombian rider moved away and extended his lead up the Capo Mele, before riding on his own into the finish in Laigueglia and netting his first victory for more than a year, and career first in a one-day race.
Forced to ride much of the finale on his own, with Tiberi on his wheel, Grégoire was unable to bring back Buitrago, but he continued his strong run of form with second place on the day, as the Italian finished off the podium.
How it unfolded
The breakaway heads to final 15km (L-R): Santiago Buitrago of Bahrain Victorious, Romain Gregoire of Groupama-FDJ United and Antonio Tiberi of Bahrain Victorious (Image credit: Getty Images)
With an undulating 192-kilometre route from Albenga to Laigueglia on the menu, the riders got an early taste of some of the roads and climbs they will face at Milan-San Remo in just over two weeks, such as the Cipresso and Capo Mele.
Louis Vervaerke (Soudal-QuickStep) was the strongest from an early nine-man move, and though his lead was as big as three minutes at moments, he quickly began to run out of steam as the top climbers came to the fore behind.
Entering the final circuits around Laigueglia, Bahrain Victorious duo Antonio Tiberi and Santiago Buitrago formed a group of four, which also contained Quinten Hermans (Pinarello Q36.5) and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United), over the top of the Colla Micheri (1.9km at 8.4%) climb with 30km remaining.
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By this point, Vervaerke had almost pulled off the impossible from the early breakaway, getting ahead over the top of the Testico climb and lasting almost all of the final 90km solo, before he was caught by the top climbers with 19km to go
With another rep of the short but steep Micheri climb to come, they made contact with Vervaeke to make it five riders in front, with the chasers 20 seconds in arrears. Soon, the two Belgians, Vervaeke and Hermans, were dropped when the road went uphill once again, and only one lap up the Micheri remained.
Five riders gave chase to try and bring back the Bahrain riders and Grégoire in the final 10km: Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep), Alessandro Covi (Jayco AlUla) and UAE Team Emirates-XRG duo António Morgado, Kevin Vermaerke, but they were unable to reel them in before the finish line.
Buitrago attacked away on the final Colla Micheri ascent, but only with a narrow lead, though with Tiberi able to sit on Grégoire, this lead grew as he went over the final Capo Mele ascent and approached the finish in Laigueglia, eventually winning by less than 20 seconds.
Santiago Buitrago rides solo to the finish (Image credit: Getty Images)
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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