THE CRAZY GANG

When Bahrain-McLaren changed their name this year to Bahrain Victorious, the jokes wrote themselves. For the Bahraini-owned but largely Slovenian-operated team 2020 was, in a word, lacklustre. They only secured nine wins, joint 13th out of the WorldTour teams.

But in 2021, it was as though everyone involved took the name change to heart, and Bahrain Victorious was very much that. The team racked up no fewer than 31 victories, 32 second places, two grand tour team prizes and the white jersey at the Vuelta. They won and won and won again, and it was the best year in the team’s short history. Some of the prizes were immense, the imagery visceral: Sonny Colbrelli filthy and ecstatic after Paris-Roubaix, Gino Mäder taking a bow in Santiago de Compostela after securing the white jersey from Egan Bernal in a barnstorming raid the previous day, Matej Mohoric in tears of disbelief after winning solo on stage 7 of the Tour de France, and the incendiary zipped-lips gesture he made two weeks later on Stage 19, one of many controversies the team has faced. Among these are some of the most powerful moments and stories of 2021. To not make them team of the year would be a profound oversight.

However, Bahrain Victorious is also