Pello Bilbao has extended his contract with Bahrain Victorious until 2026 the day after his emotional victory on stage 10 of the Tour de France.
The Basque rider dedicated his first Tour de France win to his late teammate and friend, Gino Mäder, who died at the Tour de Suisse last month.
Bilbao has raced for Bahrain Victorious since 2020 and has taken three World Tour victories in that time alongside finishing fifth overall at the Giro d’Italia twice and ninth at the Tour in 2021 for the team.
“I am thrilled to extend my contract with Team Bahrain Victorious,” said Bilbao in the team’s press release. “Over the past few years, I have felt like a part of this family. I’m in a place where I get the full support of my teammates and staff, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the team’s future successes.”
Bilbao took his maiden Tour stage victory as part of a large breakaway on one of the hardest days of the Tour de France with non-stop racing in 40-degree heat across central France.
Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) attacked away from Bilbao and the rest of the break on the final climb of the day after a lead-out from Nick Schultz (Israel-Premier Tech) and seemed set to stay away before a group led by Bilbao and Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) cooperated to reel him in inside the final 3.5km.
Neilands had looked incredibly strong throughout the stage as one of the instigators of the original break but ran out of steam on the final run into Issoire and could only finish fourth as Bilbao outsprinted those left from the break.
The Latvian got the consolation prize of the combativity award and has also signed a three-year contract extension with Israel-Premier Tech after showing he’s more than capable enough of winning at World Tour level despite missing out on this occasion.
“It was an easy decision to sign another contract. I feel really good in this team. I don’t know how it is in other teams but how I feel here, I feel like it is one big family so there is no reason to change anything,” said Neilands in the team’s press release. “I just want to continue this journey with the team, having been here since almost the beginning.
“We have already achieved many things but we still have a lot of things to achieve together so I just want to continue growing up with IPT and continue chasing our dreams,”
The 28-year-old has nine professional wins all for the Israeli team, including success at the Grand Prix de Walloni, Tour de Hongrie and Latvian national championships.
It certainly won’t be the last time we see Neilands in a break at the Tour and his team were delighted to reward his effort and talent.
“The announcement of Krists’ contract renewal comes on the heels of his brilliant ride at the Tour, where we were really, really close to winning our second consecutive stage," said team owner Sylvan Adams. “So heartbroken for Krists, but at the same time, enormously proud of his effort and ride. He’s got good form, and we’re hoping that Krists gets another crack at a win at this year’s Tour.”
