CYCLING – Team Bahrain Victorious are set to begin their 2026 European cycling season today.
While the UCI World Tour calendar is already underway with the Tour Down Under in Australia, another group of Bahrain Victorious riders will be competing in the second Classica Camp de Morvedre today, followed by the third Ruta de la Ceramica – GP Castellon tomorrow, and concluding with the 42nd Classica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 on Sunday.
The Classica Camp de Morvedre will mark the seasonal debut of Antonio Tiberi.
Intended as an icebreaker for the riders, the Italian climber’s main objective will be to test his condition.
He will guide the team over a hilly 164km course starting and finishing in Estivella, Valencia, featuring 2,568 metres of elevation gain and the Alto del Garbi climb (5.05km at 9.2 per cent average gradient), to be tackled three times.
A key point, as Bahrain Victorious Sports Director Gorazd Stangelj highlighted: “The race will be decided on the climb we do three times, so we will invest in positioning there. Tiberi will be supported by his teammates all day long, especially at the critical points. The approach to the climb is technical, so it’s crucial to bring and keep our leader safe and well positioned.”
Alongside Alberto Bruttomesso, Roman Ermakov, and Mathijs Paasschens, the lineup will include Alec Segaert, who will make his race debut with Bahrain Victorious, as well as two young riders from Bahrain Victorious Development Team, namely Thomas Capra and Balint Feldhoffer.
While the Classica Camp de Morvedre will be a first appearance for the team, Bahrain Victorious will return for the following two races where they also lined up last year.
The third Ruta de la Ceramica – GP Castellon tomorrow will see a few changes to the lineup, with Nikias Arndt, Vlad Van Mechelen, and Pau Miquel replacing Bruttomesso, Capra, and Tiberi.
Spanish rider Miquel, who finished seventh on this course in 2024, will make his debut in Bahrain Victorious colours.
The 171.7km route runs from Castellon to Onda in Valencia on a hilly parcours with approximately 2,500m of elevation gain spread across three categorised climbs.
The final race of this three-day block is the 42nd Classica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 on Sunday from La Nucia to Valencia over 199.5km.
The course will feature an alternation of the start and finish towns.
This year, the route is selective in the first and middle sections, including well-known climbs such as the famous Col de Rates, before running through a flatter finale towards Valencia.
After skipping GP Castellon, Bruttomesso will return to the lineup for this race.
Capra will also be back at the start, while the rest of the lineup will remain unchanged from the previous day, with Arndt, Miquel, Paasschens, and Van Mechelen, while another Bahrain Victorious Development Team rider, under-23 Serbian champion Mihajlo Stolic, will join the squad.