Santiago Buitrago capped off a historic 2026 Vuelta a España. The Colombian rider from Bahrain Victorious finished the Spanish tour as the winner of the mountains classification—a title of immense value to his nation’s cycling and a confirmation of the immense talent that has already seen him win two stages of the Giro d’Italia and finish in the Top 10 of the Tour de France.
At the end of the race in Granada, the Bogotá native reflected with great satisfaction, not only on his individual performance but also on his team’s collective effort over the three weeks. “I am incredibly happy to have reached Granada and proud of this team. We started with eight riders and finished with all eight, and that speaks volumes,” Buitrago said in an official statement from Bahrain Victorious.
“We fought from the first stage to the last and achieved all our goals—and even more,” the Colombian added, highlighting the team’s outstanding collective performance, which saw young Slovenian Jakob Omrzel finish in the Top 10 and Buitrago secure one of the Spanish tour’s most iconic jerseys.
The mountains title holds special significance for Colombia. Colombian riders—known as *escarabajos* (beetles)—had previously won this classification at the Vuelta a España on six occasions, starting with Lucho Herrera, who won the polka-dot jersey in 1987—the same year he was crowned the race’s overall champion—and claimed it again in 1991. That list of winners also includes Óscar de Jesús Vargas (1989), Martín Farfán (1990), and Félix “El Gato” Cárdenas, who won the title back-to-back in 2003 and 2004.
Two decades after Cárdenas’s last victory, Buitrago has returned Colombia to the top of a classification deeply intertwined with the history of the country’s cycling. His path to the jersey was forged through an aggressive racing style, astute race reading, and bravery on the decisive climbs, where he once again demonstrated that high-mountain terrain remains the natural habitat of Colombian riders.
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico