Bahrain-Victorious under review: Poels leaves sinking ship with (potentially very impressive) new captain

It was a very sparse spring season for the team managed by Milan Erzen. Matej Mohoric is typically the key rider representing the team, but he couldn’t do it alone. He achieved a commendable sixth place in Milan-San Remo, following a fifth-place finish in Strade Bianche a week prior. However, results in the Flemish classics were disappointing, with only a few top-twenty finishes and a DNF in the Tour of Flanders. Fred Wright, the revelation of 2022, couldn’t replicate his form. His best result was a twelfth place in Paris-Roubaix.

In the hilly classics, the team was counting on several strong riders to deliver. Bilbao proved the most successful puncher, finishing in the top ten in both Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Amstel Gold Race, then capping his season with a second place in the GP Montréal. Santiago Buitrago, who finished third in Liège last year, managed fifth in the Flèche Wallonne. Respectable, but he couldn’t build on his previous success.

These were notable placings, but did Bahrain-Victorious actually win any one-day races? Yes, but they came up short in victories in the classics. This was disappointing for a team that has seen riders like Mohoric win Milan-San Remo and that features talents like Bilbao, Buitrago, Wout Poels, Antonio Tiberi and Phil Bauhaus, who should theoretically have had multiple chances for victory.

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Then there had to have been results in the rounds, right? Here and there, yes, but overall it was painful to note that they failed to secure even one win in any of the grand tours. Compare that to last year, when they achieved six victories (including three in the Tour de France)... In the general classification, there was a glimmer of hope. Tiberi won the young rider classification in the Giro d’Italia, finishing fifth in Rome. He started the Vuelta a España strong but had to withdraw after a heat stroke.

For Bahrain-Victorious, the season mostly involved collecting stage wins. Phil Bauhaus won a stage in Tirreno-Adriatico, Buitrago took stage four in Paris-Nice, and Torstein Traeen delivered a nice win in the Tour of Switerland. Matevz Govekar’s victory in the final stage of the Tour of Guangxi brought their WorldTour tally to four wins. For comparison: Lotto Dstny, competing a level below, had eight wins this year.

With only occasional wins at lower levels, it was slim pickings for the team. Poels won in the Tour of Hungary, while Bauhaus and Bilbao took victories in the Tour of Slovenia. Later, Tiberi won the Tour of Luxembourg, the team’s only overall classification victory.

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Last year, the Bahraini team received a solid 7.9 from our editorial team, but in 2024, they simply didn’t meet the mark. While teams like Arkéa-B&B Hotels and Astana Qazaqstan managed to find some success in the Tour de France despite limited rosters, Bahrain-Victorious was expected to achieve more. After tallying everything up, we can’t go beyond a score of 3.5…

In 2025, Bahrain-Victorious will bid farewell to several established names, the biggest being Poels. After five years of loyal service, he signed with Astana Qazaqstan. Yukiya Arashiro, who has been with the team since 2017 as part of the original lineup, is also departing, though his next destination remains unknown. Apart from the departure of some lower-tier riders, the core of the team will remain intact for 2025.

On the other hand, they’re not bringing in any major stars. With the exception of Lenny Martinez: the 21-year-old Frenchman is one of the top climbing talents of the moment. With him on board, Bahrain-Victorious hopes to eventually contend for grand tour victories again. The team is clearly focused on the future: Vlad Van Mechelen is moving up from dsm-firmenich PostNL's development team. Additionally, they’re promoting three riders from their own development team.

New arrivals: Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Daniel Skerl (CTF Victorious), Max van der Meulen (CTF Victorious), Žak Erzen (CTF Victorious) and Vlad Van Mechelen (Development Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)

Leaving (provisional): Wout Poels (Astana Qazaqstan) and Jasha Sütterlin (Team Jayco-AlUla)

Looking at their transfer policy and the course of this season, much will depend on the established names. Riders like Mohoric, Bilbao, Bauhaus, Wright and Jack Haig will need to carry the team, something they struggled with this year. Haig, the Australian who last achieved a grand tour podium in the Vuelta, hasn’t been in the top ten of a major tour since. Mohoric had a decent season but won only in the Tour of Valencia and the national time trial championships, which doesn’t qualify as a success.

There’s a lot of hope pinned on the 23-year-old Tiberi. Should he continue his rapid development, we might soon see him fighting for the podium in the grand tours. He’s proven versatile, excelling in time trials and in the mountains, and with his win in Luxembourg, he’s shown he can also handle smaller climbs.

Bahrain-Victorious certainly doesn’t lack young talent. It will be interesting to see the role Martinez will play. In smaller multi-day races, he has occasionally kept up with the best and showed promise in challenging one-day races with wins in Trofeo Laigueglia and the Tour du Doubs, plus an eighth place in Strade Bianche... Other young talents, such as Edoardo Zambanini and Alberto Bruttomesso, have made their mark. Who knows, perhaps they can begin to compete for wins in 2025 — something the team desperately needs, as it has fallen from sixth to seventeenth in the WorldTour rankings. While last year they were part of the subtop, now they face the threat of relegation.

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