Saudi Tour 2022 - Santiago Buitrago of Bahrain Victorious storms clear to win tough Stage 2 in Abu Rakah

Updated 02/02/2022 at 15:34 GMT

The Colombian kept his cool to take win after a bumpy ascent with gradients on the final slope reaching 13%. Riders were regularly dropping off the back on a brutal, bumpy final climb to the finish, and it was Buitrago who proved the strongest. The race continues on Thursday live on Eurosport with the final stage on Sunday.

Buitrago and Ewan battle in tight finish on Stage 2 of Saudi Tour

Santiago Buitrago of Bahrain Victorious broke clear late on to win the second stage of the Saudi Tour.

Riders were regularly dropping off the back on a brutal, bumpy final climb to the finish at Abu Rakah, but Colombian Buitrago sprinted off the front to take the victory after nearly four hours in the saddle.

His nearest competitor was Andrea Bagioli of Quick Step Alpha Vinyl, but the Italian could not live with Buitrago in the final 500 metres.

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Securing the stage was enough to take Buitrago into the overall lead in the race.

Speaking afterwards, the 22-year-old said: "I’m really happy to win the stage today. It’s amazing.

"The team did great work for me the whole stage. We had quite a lot of wind.

"When it was one kilometre to go, I saw that I had good legs. We were only three guys fighting at the end. It was very tricky, and I didn’t think that I would have a lot of opportunities to win in the sprint, so I decided to try earlier.

"I wanted to show my gratitude to the whole team for the job done, all the riders and staff.

"This is the first victory in my career and the first one in the season for the team. This is incredible.

"Thanks to the team for trusting me. It’s not the last one for sure.”

Bahrain Victorious' directeur sportif Franco Pellizotti added: "I’m super happy for the first victory of the season, and also very happy that young Santiago Buitrago won.

"When I saw Bagioli coming back to Santiago, at first I was scared as I know Bagioli is fast but Santiago was very strong in the finish, and I’m so happy for him and the whole team.

"Also, I’m really happy how the whole team worked really well for Santiago today.”

Stage 3 will take the riders on a 181km journey from Tayma Hadaj to AlUla Old Town.

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