Tour de France 2026 — Bahrain Victorious: Final Rosters & Complete Team Guide

This is the complete guide to Bahrain Victorious at the Tour de France 2026, covering their confirmed 8-rider start list with stage-type role breakdown, the team’s brand-new Bianchi equipment programme that replaced nine years on Merida, Antonio Tiberi’s Tour debut as GC leader, Lenny Martinez’s polka-dot jersey push, Damiano Caruso’s farewell Grand Tour, the full sponsor and management structure, and the context behind the team’s state-backed ownership model that most previews leave out entirely.

What Is Bahrain Victorious? A State-Backed Project Built for International Visibility

Bahrain Victorious, formerly Bahrain-Merida, then briefly Bahrain-McLaren, is a Bahraini cycling team created in late 2016 for its first competitive season in 2017, racing with a UCI WorldTeam licence since its debut. Sponsored by the government of Bahrain, the team’s results sheet carries genuine weight: the Tour of Lombardy in 2017 and Milan-San Remo in 2018 with Vincenzo Nibali, Paris-Roubaix in 2021 with Sonny Colbrelli, and the World Time Trial Championship in 2019 with Rohan Dennis. These are not minor results. They are Monument and World Championship victories that most WorldTour teams never accumulate in a decade.

General manager Milan Eržen, a Slovenian national, has held the position since the team’s 2016 inception. He oversees operations under the ownership of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, a sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Bahraini government, meaning the team’s financial backing flows directly from state resources rather than a commercial sponsor in the traditional sense.

That ownership structure is worth understanding fully, not just for the sporting context but for the complete picture. The team’s creation in 2016 was driven by Prince Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa with Eržen’s assistance, a figure whose history has drawn separate scrutiny over allegations related to the treatment of political opponents in Bahrain. The team itself has faced its own scrutiny over the years: in 2019, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Eržen was under UCI investigation over suspected links to a doctor connected to a major doping scandal. In 2022, French investigators searched the homes of Eržen, team medical staff, and several riders, including current 2026 squad member Damiano Caruso, alongside the team’s race hotel during that year’s Tour de France, as part of a broader doping investigation. The team’s performance director at the time, Vladimir Miholjević, firmly denied any wrongdoing. Human rights campaigners have separately argued that the team’s state sponsorship model functions as a form of sportswashing, using elite sport to improve international perception of the Bahraini government.

None of this has produced sanctions against the riders currently on the 2026 Tour roster, and it sits alongside the team’s legitimate sporting achievements rather than overriding them. But a complete picture of who Bahrain Victorious is should include this context rather than presenting the team purely through its results sheet, particularly given how visibly this history has been reported by major cycling and mainstream outlets over the years.

The team’s co-sponsor at its 2016 founding was Merida Bikes, which left its prior partnership with Lampre-Merida, where it had been co-sponsor since 2013, to join the new Bahraini project. That nine-year partnership has now ended, and what replaced it is the single biggest off-bike story Bahrain Victorious carries into the 2026 Tour de France.

The Bianchi Switch — Bahrain Victorious’s Biggest Off-Bike Story of 2026

Starting from the 2026 season, Bahrain Victorious is racing with a completely different bike brand than the one it rode for nine years. The WorldTour team made official a multi-year agreement with the legendary Italian firm Bianchi, founded in 1885 and now the successor to Merida as the team’s bike supplier.

CEO Milan Eržen explained the thinking behind the switch: “When we first met with Bianchi to explore the possibility of collaboration, it was clear that we shared the same spirit and goals. We saw their ambition to build on their rich heritage and legacy, while looking to the future, working with us on advancements, development and a modern vision for high-performance cycling.” Bianchi CEO Alberto Cavaggioni offered a similar framing from the manufacturer’s side: “We are extremely proud to be the new partner of Team Bahrain Victorious, with whom we share values such as history, innovation and the desire to win.”

The timing carries its own subplot. Bianchi had previously sponsored Team Arkéa-B&B Hotels in 2025, a partnership that ended when that squad folded due to financial difficulties. Bahrain Victorious represents Bianchi’s reentry into top-tier WorldTour sponsorship and the brand has treated the relationship with real seriousness rather than a simple paint-job rebrand.

What makes this genuinely significant for 2026, rather than just a routine kit change: Bianchi went early with the launch of a major redesign, the first major overhaul of its Specialissima model since September 2023, specifically timed ahead of the Tour de France. More notably, this broke an expected redesign sequence entirely. Bianchi’s older Oltre aero bike, in continuous service since 2022, was the model most observers expected to be updated next in the brand’s usual product cycle. Instead, Bianchi chose to completely overhaul the Specialissima, transforming what had previously been the brand’s pure lightweight climbing bike into a genuine aero all-rounder. Bahrain Victorious is the team this redesign decision was built around, with the brand explicitly crediting rider feedback from the squad in shaping the final product.

Bahrain Victorious 2026 Tour de France Start List — All 8 Riders

The squad blends two credible GC ambitions with one of the deepest stage-hunting rosters in the race — a structure built to deliver a positive Tour regardless of how the overall classification battle plays out.

Antonio Tiberi — Italy’s GC Hope Arrives Three Years Later Than Expected

Antonio Tiberi targeted the Giro d’Italia in 2025, only to suffer through the final week after a nasty crash derailed his campaign. The Tour de France is his next attempt at proving his GC credentials and according to his own teammates and performance staff, it may actually suit him better than the Giro does, thanks to the French race’s more gradual mountain gradients and the specific impact of its time trial stages on the overall standings.

His breakthrough as a genuine GC contender came in 2024, with a fifth-place finish at the Giro that confirmed three-week stage racing was within his range. This season started strongly, fourth at the Tour of Valencia, second at the UAE Tour, before his form dipped through the middle months of the year. Bahrain Victorious’s own assessment captures both the optimism and the caveat plainly: “Antonio had a good start to the season before he struggled a bit with his form. We now feel he’s back on track, and although he showed what he’s capable of in the Giro two years ago, the Tour de France is a different race. He’ll have experienced support riders with him.”

That last point matters as much as anything about his own form. A GC debut at the Tour de France is unlike a GC debut anywhere else in cycling — the depth of the field, the scrutiny, and the cumulative fatigue of three weeks against the strongest collection of climbers in the sport all compound in ways smaller races simply don’t replicate. Tiberi’s support cast, built around Caruso’s mountain experience, is the team’s answer to that gap.

Lenny Martinez — Third Tour, First Real Shot at Delivering

This is Martinez’s third consecutive Tour de France. His first two appearances ended in disappointment, and at 22, he is eager to finally produce the Grand Tour performance his talent has long promised. His first Tour, in 2024, arrived almost as an afterthought, riding for Groupama FDJ United just after the team learned he was leaving for Bahrain Victorious, a situation neither side could have found comfortable. Last year, in his first Tour with his new team, the diminutive climber returned with real purpose and wore the polka-dot jersey for a long stretch of the race before it slipped away.

His 2026 season has shown the form that makes a third attempt feel different: fifth at Paris-Nice, second at the Tour of Catalonia, third at the Tour de Romandie. A crash before the Tour de Suisse compromised his opening-stage performances there, but he looked considerably stronger by the race’s final mountain stage, a pattern that suggests his form is returning at exactly the right moment for July.

“Our goal is to bring home a stage victory and fight for the polka dot jersey,” Martinez said ahead of the Tour. “We have a really strong team with several riders capable of winning stages, and we will look for the right opportunities throughout the race.” Notably, he is not framing this campaign around the overall classification, the polka-dot mountains jersey and a stage win are the explicit, achievable targets, distinct from Tiberi’s top-10 GC ambition.

Damiano Caruso — One Last Tour, One Specific Unfinished Goal

This is Damiano Caruso’s final Grand Tour. At 38, he comes out of the 2026 Giro d’Italia in excellent condition, having spent recovery time at team partner Villars Palace’s facilities before arriving at the Tour in genuinely strong shape. His listed role is protecting both Tiberi and Martinez in the mountains, a split responsibility that asks one rider to read two separate GC campaigns simultaneously across the same climbs. But he carries his own motivation too: a stage victory at the Tour would complete the rare feat of winning a stage at all three Grand Tours across his career.

What most previews of this team’s Tour squad miss entirely is the Giro context that makes Caruso’s current mountain credibility so concrete. At the 2026 Giro d’Italia, Caruso served as lead-out man for young Brazilian rider Afonso Eulálio and, almost as an aside to that support role, casually finished ninth himself in the process. Eulálio spent nine days in the pink leader’s jersey during that Giro and finished sixth overall, claiming the white best-young-rider classification. That is Bahrain Victorious’s single clearest piece of evidence for current mountain-support capability heading into July, and it directly involves the rider now tasked with protecting two GC leaders through the Pyrenees and the Alps. Eulálio himself was not selected for the 2026 Tour squad, the team chose to prioritize Tiberi and Martinez’s support structure instead, but the form and tactical sharpness Caruso displayed protecting him in Italy translates directly to what Bahrain Victorious needs from him in France.

Matej Mohorič — The Most Decorated Stage Hunter in Team History

Matej Mohorič has won more Tour de France stages than any rider in Bahrain Victorious’s history, three to date, and he arrives in 2026 targeting rolling, classics-style terrain where his particular combination of descending skill and tactical breakaway instinct gives him a genuine edge over the field. His 2026 season has been relatively quiet by his own standards, but he has still shown flashes of his quality, and his profile remains perfectly suited to medium-mountain and transition stages, exactly the terrain where GC teams often allow a breakaway to survive because the stage doesn’t threaten the overall classification battle. He is almost certain to be one of Bahrain Victorious’s most dangerous attacking cards whenever those opportunities arise.

Phil Bauhaus — Third Tour, Still Chasing That First Stage Win

Phil Bauhaus makes his third Tour de France appearance in 2026. He has come close to a stage victory before without quite landing one, and the team believes he can challenge again on the right day — while also noting his willingness to work for his teammates whenever the race demands it rather than purely chasing his own result. With roughly eight stages on the 2026 route forecast to end in a bunch sprint, his window of opportunity is real, even against a sprint field that includes several proven winners.

Kamil Gradek — The Reliable Road Captain

Kamil Gradek is one of the most reliable riders in the peloton, and his teammates’ confidence in him is complete. His value at the Tour is rarely visible in highlight packages, it shows up in correct positioning before a crucial split, in tactical reads that prevent a dangerous move from gaining time, and in the kind of crucial support that determines whether a stage goes to plan or unravels in the final 20 kilometers.

Robert Stannard — A Huge Engine Coming Off a Strong Giro

Robert Stannard arrives at the Tour after a strong showing at the 2026 Giro d’Italia, carrying a genuinely huge engine that the team intends to use across multiple roles — supporting Bauhaus directly in sprint finishes and contributing broader support to the rest of the squad throughout the race’s three weeks.

Vlad Van Mechelen — The Belgian Debutant Already Making an Impression

Vlad Van Mechelen is 22, Belgian, and makes his Grand Tour debut at this Tour de France after an impressive breakaway ride at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where he finished third on Stage 2. His debut is explicitly framed as a learning experience by the team, but he is also expected to play a genuine tactical role as Bauhaus’s final lead-out rider on sprint stages, a meaningful responsibility for a rider yet to start a three-week race. Bahrain Victorious describes this Tour as a potential major step in his development, not simply participation for its own sake.

A Genuinely Balanced Team — What “Balance” Actually Means Here

“We’re coming into the Tour with a really balanced team,” Sports Director Roman Kreuziger said. “Our main objective is to fight for stage victories, while also supporting Antonio Tiberi in the general classification. We believe he can challenge for a top ten.”

That word, balanced, gets used in nearly every team preview across the peloton, but here it describes something specific and slightly unusual. Bahrain Victorious arrives with Tiberi and Martinez both carrying credible GC ambitions on the same eight-rider squad: Tiberi targeting an overall top-10, Martinez targeting the mountains and polka-dot classification rather than outright general classification.

This is a softer version of the dual-leadership tension visible elsewhere in the 2026 field, but with one important structural difference. Caruso is explicitly tasked with protecting both Antonio and Lenny in the mountains, meaning the team’s primary mountain support rider must split his attention across two separate ambitions on the same climbs, rather than the squad dividing into two cleanly separated support groups.

Running alongside that dual-GC structure is a genuinely deep stage-hunting layer — Mohorič, Bauhaus, and Van Mechelen, with Gradek and Stannard providing tactical and physical support. That combination gives the squad multiple realistic paths to a positive Tour de France even if the Tiberi/Martinez GC battle doesn’t fully deliver. Caruso’s personal ambition to complete a stage win at all three Grand Tours adds a third storyline running in parallel to the team’s primary objectives, a reminder that “balanced” here means genuinely multiple credible outcomes, not just diplomatic language covering for a single clear priority.

What Bikes Does Bahrain Victorious Ride at the 2026 Tour de France?

As part of the Bianchi agreement, Bahrain Victorious riders have the full range of the brand’s Reparto Corse products at their disposal: the Oltre, Bianchi’s flagship aerodynamic machine; the Specialissima, geared toward lightness and versatility; the Aquila time trial platform; and the Impulso, designed for competitive gravel riding.

Bianchi Specialissima RC — The Climbing Platform

The all-new Specialissima was redesigned from the ground up for 2026, with the ultra-premium RC frame coming in 40 grams lighter than its predecessor at just 750 grams in a size 55 — while Bianchi maintains the new frame holds the same stiffness level as before. The redesign delivers a claimed 16-watt improvement over its predecessor at 50 km/h, a meaningful gain on a bike whose primary job is still climbing efficiency.

Ridden by Bahrain Victorious, the new bike specifically retains the previous generation’s geometry, a deliberate choice made at the team’s request. Following extensive feedback from the squad, Bianchi instead focused its refinement efforts on rider positioning through updated cockpit dimensions and reach, rather than altering the fundamental frame geometry riders had already adapted to.

The flagship RC tier features the 750-gram frameset built from ultra-high modulus carbon fibres, an RC integrated cockpit, and the RC 49R carbon wheelset — 49mm depth, 25mm internal width, straight-pull spokes — paired with either Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 or SRAM Red AXS groupset options.

For the 2026 Tour specifically, Lenny Martinez, as a pure featherweight climber, will almost certainly ride the Specialissima exclusively across the race, it matches his explosive, high-cadence climbing style perfectly. Antonio Tiberi will rely on the same chassis for the three-week consistency his GC campaign demands.

Bianchi Oltre RC — The Aero and Sprint Platform

The Oltre RC is one of the most aggressive aero bikes on the market, built around controversial “Air Deflector” technology on the head tube that remains subject to UCI race-day approval. It is stiffer, heavier, and significantly faster on flat terrain than the Specialissima — the classic aero-versus-climbing tradeoff, executed at the extreme end of the aero spectrum. The Oltre has carried the legacy of an immediate UCI ban on its original aero fins design and has been in continuous service since 2022, making it the elder statesman of Bianchi’s current racing lineup even as the Specialissima just received the brand’s full redesign attention.

For Matej Mohorič — often nicknamed “the King of the Dropper Post” for his innovative use of dropper seatposts on technical descents — the Oltre is the natural successor to his old Merida Reacto, providing the maximum speed his trademark solo attacks and descents require. Phil Bauhaus, the team’s pure sprinter, needs every available watt of aero efficiency for the bunch kick finishes that define his role.

Full Component Specification

The team runs what amounts to a hybrid component setup, deliberately mixing Japanese precision with Italian composite engineering rather than committing to a single groupset manufacturer’s complete ecosystem. Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9270 handles shifting and braking duties, but the crankset itself is the carbon FSA K-Force Team Edition, meaning the team does not run a complete, single-brand Shimano groupset despite the drivetrain’s electronic core coming from Shimano.

The power meter is a Power2Max NG unit — German-made, spider-based, integrated into the FSA crankset rather than relying on the Shimano factory power meter that most rival teams use. Wheels come from Vision, specifically the Metron 45 and 60 SL depths depending on stage profile. The cockpit is Bianchi’s proprietary Reparto Corse integrated unit, a requirement of the Oltre RC’s air deflector system — meaning riders gave up their familiar Vision Metron 5D handlebars entirely as part of the broader equipment switch. Tyres are Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tubeless, run in the 28-30mm range. Saddles are Prologo Scratch M5, and pedals are Shimano Dura-Ace R9100.

The Bianchi Specialissima RC — the same climbing platform Tiberi and Martinez race at the 2026 Tour — and the Bianchi Oltre RC aero platform used by Mohorič and Bauhaus are available through Bianchi’s official retail and dealer network.

Bahrain Victorious Sponsors & Commercial Partners 2026

The team is sponsored under the Bahrain name, with financial support flowing primarily from several state-linked or large-scale Bahraini enterprises: the Bahrain Economic Development Board, the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), the Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco), the National Bank of Bahrain, Al Salam Bank, and Aluminium Bahrain (Alba).

Bapco Energies and Bahrain Victorious renewed their partnership for 2026, continuing a relationship that has supported the team since its inception in 2016. Group CEO Mark Thomas framed the continuation around shared values: “Performance drives everything we do at Bapco Energies, from operational excellence to supporting top athletes. Our longstanding partnership with Bahrain Victorious is a testament to our shared focus on teamwork, innovation, and continuous improvement.” Eržen’s response underscored the depth of the relationship: “Bapco Energies have truly been an integral part of our team from the very beginning.”

Beyond the headline Bianchi switch, two further additions joined the sponsor roster for 2026. Chinese brand ELILEE became the team’s official electronic pump partner, with its crank and power sensor products already used in competition. Real estate developer OMNIYAT also joined as a team sponsor for the new season.

Equipment partners:

Bianchi (bikes), FSA (cranksets), Power2Max (power meters), Vision (wheels and cockpit components), Continental (tyres), Prologo (saddles), Rudy Project (helmets and eyewear), Shimano (drivetrain components).

Team Management & Staff

Milan Eržen, General Manager and Managing Director, has held the position since the team’s 2016 inception, having previously worked as a sports consultant to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Key operational roles beneath him include Vladimir Miholjević as Technical Director and Special Projects Manager, and Rod Ellingworth as Operations Manager, focusing on the day-to-day logistics and coordination that keep a WorldTour team functioning across a full racing calendar.

The sports directing staff comprises a group of experienced former professional riders with genuine Grand Tour and Classics tactical expertise. Gorazd Štangelj of Slovenia competed professionally from 1990 to 2011 for teams including Saeco and Fassa Bortolo, and has guided Bahrain Victorious through major events including the Giro d’Italia. Xavier Florencio Cabré of Spain rounds out the senior directing group. For the Tour de France specifically, Roman Kreuziger has joined the staff as a director — bringing his own former professional racing background directly to bear on the team’s most important three weeks of the season.

Bahrain Victorious’s Development Pipeline — The Talent Behind the Headlines

No competitor preview of this team’s 2026 Tour squad mentions the development structure underneath it, but it is worth understanding as part of the full organization.

The Bahrain Victorious Development Team operates under the oversight of parent team general manager Milan Eržen, with Roberto Bressan serving as assistant sports director, coordinating the development squad’s alignment with the senior WorldTeam. In 2025, Slovenian rider Jakob Omrzel claimed the elite men’s road race title at the Slovenian National Championships, while Italian rider Alessandro Borgo won the under-23 men’s road race at the Italian National Championships — both products of a development pipeline that specifically leverages riders’ form from international races like the Giro Next Gen and Tour of Slovenia as preparation for national title pushes.

From 2026, the development squad also shifts to Bianchi as its official bike partner, extending the technical support arrangement across the organization’s entire structure rather than confining it to the WorldTour roster alone. The Bianchi switch, in other words, isn’t a senior-team-only story — it touches the full talent pipeline that eventually feeds riders like Lenny Martinez into the WorldTour squad in the first place.

Bahrain Victorious’s Tour de France Record — Nibali, Landa, and a History of Near-Misses

In 2020, operating as Team Bahrain McLaren, Mikel Landa delivered a fourth-place finish in the Tour de France general classification, still the team’s best Grand Tour GC result to date, while Damiano Caruso placed tenth overall in the same race, the first real evidence that this organization’s mountain depth could produce a genuine GC result at cycling’s biggest race.

The team’s broader palmarès carries real weight elsewhere: the Tour of Lombardy in 2017 and Milan-San Remo in 2018 with Vincenzo Nibali, Paris-Roubaix in 2021 with Sonny Colbrelli. These are Monument victories that most WorldTour organizations spend a decade chasing without success. But the Tour de France specifically has not yet produced a yellow jersey equivalent for Bahrain Victorious and Matej Mohorič’s status as the most prolific Tour stage winner in team history reflects exactly that pattern: this is an organization whose Tour success has come through stage hunting rather than GC contention, the inverse of its Monument and Classics record.

The 2026 squad construction, a credible dual-GC threat in Tiberi and Martinez, layered with one of the deepest stage-hunting rosters in the race, is explicitly designed to finally break that pattern, attacking the Tour de France from both directions at once rather than settling for one or the other.

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Last updated: July 1, 2026. Start list confirmed. Live stage results, GC standings, and breaking news updated throughout the race.