Sonny Colbrelli departs Bahrain Victorious as sports director

Former Paris-Roubaix champion Sonny Colbrelli will leave his role of sports director at Bahrain Victorious after just over three seasons in the post, according to a report in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Colbrelli joined the staff of the team with which he was rider since 2017 following his retirement from the sport in 2022.

There was currently no indication of whether Colbrelli would continue his management career with another team. The 2021 Paris-Roubaix winner was forced to retire from the sport early in the 2022 season, after he collapsed at the Volta a Catalunya and was diagnosed with an unstable cardiac arrhythmia.

Bahrain Victorious finished the 2025 season 10th in the UCI team rankings, following just eight victories, half of which were achieved by 22-year-old Frenchman Lenny Martinez. Damiano Caruso finished fifth overall at the Giro d’Italia, while the squad itself finished second overall behind UAE Team Emirates-XRG in the team standings.

In the coming seasons, Bahrain Victorious will be structured around the experience of Martinez, Caruso, Antonio Tiberi and Santiago Buitrago.

Young talent Jakob Omrzel of Slovenia is a future hope for the team’s GC ambitions. The 19-year-old won this year’s Giro Next Gen under-23 race, earning a promotion to the WorldTour team from 2026, after just one year on the team’s development squad.

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