Santiago Buitrago: this has been the step by step of his progress in the time trial stages

Santiago Buitrago was the best Colombian yesterday in the first stage of the Vuelta al Basque Country, a 10 kilometer individual time trial, won by the Slovenian Primoz Roglicfirst leader.

or Primoz Roglic, first leader.

The team cyclist Bahrain lost only lost 24 seconds with the runner of the bora, in an outstanding individual effort and in a very good progression for his future.

Great evolution

It is clear that Buitrago has worked on the special bicycle for these sections, since the time of 12 minutes and 58 seconds is very good for the rest of the competition and the high mountain stages.

Roglic won the day with a time of 12 minutes and 34 seconds, while Buitrago lost with Juan Ayuso eight seconds, with Remco Evenepoel, 13 and with Jonas Vingegaard It was nine, in an excellent day.

We turn the pages and look at what the history of the Cundinamarca cyclist has been in this type of stages and the truth is that it has improved.

His first big race was the 2020 Vuelta a España, in his first year with Bahrain, in the WorldTour.

That time, in his first important time trial in that category he was 84 and 5 minutes and 46 seconds behind the winner, Roglic, on a 33.7 kilometer day.

Very far

A year later, in Return to Cataloniathe Bogota runner occupied box 61 at 1 min 40 s of Rohan Dennisthe winner over a distance of only 18 km.

And in the Dauphiné, Buitrago was 82nd and two minutes behind the day's winner, Alexey Lutsenko, in a 18.6km stage. In 2022 he was in two times in the Giro.

In the first 9.2 he lost 36 s with Simon Yates. In the second, 17.4 km, Matteo Sobrero beat him by 2 min 29 s. In the Back to Spain It was 82, 5 min 06 s behind the winner of the 30 km stage, Evenepoel, a considerable time, although at that point the runner was still making his progress.

Last year's statistics confirm that it has improved in this effort. In Tyrrhenian Adriatic he lost 1 min 10 s with the winner of the fraction at the 11.5 km clockFilippo Ganna. His evolution could already be seen at that time.

In the Giro d'Italia he was 17 to 2 min 24 s behind Roglic in the 18.6 km stage. Then, in the 35 km time trial, he lost 2 min 41 s to Evenepoel and the Belgian runner surpassed him by 2 min 02 s in 19 km of the pink race, in which in the end he finished 13th.

Closer

In the Back to Spain Last year, Buitrago did not do the time trial at its best and finished 29 to 2 min 26 s behind Ganna.

This year he was seventh, 16 seconds behind Maxim van Gils, winner of the individual time trial in the Vuelta a Andalucía over 4.9 kilometers.

What happened on Monday in the Basque Country is an example of his work in the area of ​​improving aerodynamics, fitting in better on the special bicycle and pedaling so as not to lose so many seconds.

Without a doubt, when you analyze what Buitrago has been in his efforts on the clock, it must be noted that he has improved enormously. Yes, it is clear that he is not going to fight the great specialists, but he has dedicated time to this work and the results are visible.

This Tuesday, the Tour of the Basque Country will have its second fraction between Irun and Kanbo, of 160 kilometers, with a third category mountain prize in which the sprinters will have the option to fight for victory.