Staff shake-up at Bahrain-Victorious: Colbrelli set to depart with Gasparatto to join

Bahrain-Victorious are set to undergo staff changes ahead of the 2026 season, with Sonny Colbrelli departing his sports director role and former Amstel Gold Race double winner Enrico Gasparotto joining the team, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The Middle Eastern team will undergo a technical restructuring after finishing 10th in the 2025 UCI team rankings with just eight victories, their lowest total since the team's formation in 2017, though an improvement on a disappointing 17th place in the 2024 rankings.

Colbrelli, who joined the team's technical staff after retiring due to heart problems and became a sports director, is set to leave. The Italian won Paris-Roubaix as a rider with the team, among 18 victories in the colours of the team, and 34 as a professional in total.

Meanwhile, Gasparotto is set to join after departing Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. The former professional brings substantial experience, having claimed two Amstel Gold Race victories during his riding career, and he spent two years as a rider with the team from 2017 to 2018.

In terms of the rider roster for 2026, the team have acquired the services of Pau Miquel from Equipo Kern Pharma, Alec Segaert from Lotto, Attila Valter from Visma | Lease a Bike and promoted Giro d’Italia Next Gen winner Jakob Omrzel, and Alessandro Borgo from their development team.

Meanwhile, Fred Wright, who has been with Bahrain-Victorious since 2020, will depart for Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, where he will join forces with Tom Pidcock.

Looking ahead to 2026, the team will be aiming to return to Grand Tour success, having not won a Grand Tour stage since Wout Poels claimed victory on the penultimate day of the Vuelta a España in 2023. That season had been considerably more fruitful, with the team securing six Grand Tour stages in total.