Saudi Tour: Buitrago wins stage 2 hilltop finish

Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) took his first professional victory on stage 2 of the Saudi Tour, outsmarting Andrea Bagioli (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) on the hilltop finish at Abu Rakah after the pair had escaped from the peloton in the final kilometre.

Danish youngster Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Pro Cycling) emerged from the chasing group to complete the podium at seven seconds.

22-year-old Buitrago, who is at the start of his third season as a pro, jumped away towards the bottom of the final ramp to the finish, which started at 1.6 kilometres to go. He went with Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies), followed Bagioli as the Italian surge past and then kicked away to victory in sight of the line. 

The Colombian took over the race lead from stage 1 winner Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), who finished fifth having raced up the climb near the front of the peloton. Heading into stage 3, the gap between the two lies at seven seconds, with Charmig third overall at 13 seconds.

Ewan wears the red jersey as points classification leader after the stage, but will have a chance to take back the race lead via bonus seconds on Thursday with another sprint finish likely.

Earlier in the day, Martin Bugge Urianstad (Uno-X Pro Cycling) and Polychronis Tzortzakis (Kuwait Pro Cycling) got out in the break for the second day running alongside Jeroen Meijers (Terengganu Polygon).

At one point their lead was up to four minutes, but with Lotto Soudal in control of the peloton there was little chance of staying away to the end. They were duly caught inside the last 10 kilometres with Meijers the last man standing, setting up the big hilltop finish.

Jayde Julius (Kuwait Pro Cycling) tried a move with seven kilometres to go but couldn't get anywhere, and so the peloton hit the climb massed together before the winning attack came from Oss, Buitrago and Bagioli.