Volta a Valenciana: Santiago Buitrago climbs to victory on stage 2 summit finish

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Santiago Buitrago gave Bahrain Victorious their first win of 2025 on the Alto de Partegat hilltop finish at the Volta a Valenciana, catching and passing teammate Pello Bilbao in the final kilometre.

The Colombian was able to sit on the wheels as the other teams chased Bilbao and then jumped away, to ensure victory for his team.

Bilbao finished eight seconds down on Buitrago, with a strong João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) third at 13 seconds. The other big-name overall contenders were scattered across a minute.

Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) went deep to try to keep the leader's yellow jersey. He finished 13th, only 57 seconds down on Buitrago and so kept the race lead by just a few seconds, thanks to Lidl-Trek's dominant victory in the stage 1 team time trial.

Almeida is only two seconds down on Vacek, with Buitrago third overall at five seconds.

Bahrain Victorious lost 1:11 to Lidl-Trek in the stage 1 team time trial but Buitrago and Bilbao pulled back time on many of his overall rivals before more hilly stages to Alpuente and then Portell de Morella.

How it unfolded

The 166km second stage from La Nucía to Benifato (Font de Partegat) visited the training roads many riders use during winter training camps near the Costa Blanca, Alicante and the Valencia region.

The early climbs made a perfect springboard for attacks before a ride along the coastline and back into the hills.

Riders from the US Project Echelon Racing team were active and went on the attack but five riders eventually got away and were given their freedom. They were Samuele Zoccarato (Polti VisitMalta), Matyáš Kopecký (Team Novo Nordisk), Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellet BH), Quentin Bezza (Wagner Bazin WB) and Vicente Rojas (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).

Zoccarato became the virtual race lead as Lidl-Trek controlled the peloton and allowed the break to open a four-minute lead.

The race changed with 65km to go when the race hit the Coll de Rates, the now famous training climb, where Tadej Pogačar took the Strava record in December with a team effort and powerful ride. 

UAE Team Emirates-XRG and especially Ivo Oliveira took over on the front of the peloton, reducing the gap to the breakaway. The break soon fell apart on the climb, with only Kopecký and Fernández staying clear. They made it over the top of the climb but were within sight on the fast, sweeping descent.

The peloton came back together with 25km to go as the final climb neared. The 5.5km Benimantell formed the first step up to the finish, with the subsequent climb to Alto de Partegat some 4.3km long but at 9.4%.

Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) took off alone at this point as the British team lived up to their promise to race more aggressively. He opened a 20-second gap and forced rival teams to show their hand. Behind, Almeida rode on the front, splitting the chase group and hurting everyone, as many riders suffered on their 2025 debut and first big race effort.

Foss made it to the Benimantell KOM but Almeida's surge eventually drew out Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Iván Romeo (Movistar). They then jumped across to Foss and the trio began the Alto de Partegat with a handful of seconds.

The trio opened a 15-second gap and seemed likely to stay clear but Almeida did some more huge turns and refused to let them go. Foss and then Romeo cracked but Bilbao pushed on and seemed in control, even if the gap fell gradually as the gradient steepened.

Perhaps ordered by his Bahrain Victorious team car or instinctively, Buitrago took off alone with 600 metres to go. He dropped Almeida and everyone else, cruelly surged past Bilbao and won the stage.

Results

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