Jan Christen solos to victory in Challenge Mallorca Trofeo Calvià

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Challenge 2025 Mallorca Trofeo Calvià — Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) takes the win(Image credit: Getty Images)

Young star Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) powered to victory at the Challenge Mallorca-Trofeo Calvià after a thrilling day of racing, dropping Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) and Frederik Wandahl (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) with a stinging surge in the final kilometre.

Scaroni held on for second after being one of the most active riders throughout the hilly 149.6km one-day race. But Wandahl dropped to fourth as Christen's teammate Antonio Morgado made a late move and overtook him on the line to bookend the podium for UAE.

Christen made his move across to Scaroni and Wandahl, who had been leading for much of the day, with 10km to go, finally making contact three kilometres later. The trio swapped turns all the way to the 1km to go mark when the 20-year-old Swiss rider first moved to the back and then exploded away from his fellow breakaways.

Christen's success is UAE Emirates-XRG's fourth win of the 2025 season after Jhonatan Narváez both triumphed overall at the Tour Down Under and took a stage win, while last weekend Morgado won the one-day Gran Premio Castellón in Spain.

"I'm super happy, I have super condition and the first two races were already good with Antonio [Morgado] taking a win and now me as well," said Christen post-race.

"Today, Tudor pulled all day at a super-hard pace and I didn't have the best legs. So I tried to save as much energy as possible until the end and then make one or two good moves. To get away and win the race is amazing."

"I did some super good winter training in Gran Canaria, and could make another step forward. Taking a win already is amazing and I'm super happy and my thanks to the team."

As the first of the five Challenge Mallorca one-day races got underway, Tudor Pro Cycling made it clear they would be targeting victory, controlling several early moves and setting a high tempo for their leader Marc Hirschi throughout the first half of racing.

The first significant separation came on the second descent off of the Coll den Claret climb, when Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Anthon Charmig (XDS Astana) and Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) slipped away and built a 10-second lead.

As the chase continued behind, a smaller group soon made contact and made it an 11-man group in front containing Quintana, Molenaar, Charmig, Jon Barrenetxea (Movistar), Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B), Kamiel Bonneu (Intermarché-Wanty), António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Florian Stork (Tudor) and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).

Racing didn't come back together fully for 20km until the approach to the final categorised climb of the day, Coll de sa Gramola (3.4 km at 4.5%), when more attacks came from Scaroni and the likes of Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

XDS Astana proved to be one of the strongest teams on that final ascent, launching a two-pronged move 500 metres from the summit through Scaroni and Frenchman
Clément Champoussin. Only Wandahl could follow as they hit the descent, where the Dane got away thanks to some daring cornering. His solo ride wouldn't last long, though, with Scaroni dropping his teammate on the next uncategorised climb to make it a lead duo.

As the main chasing group swelled, Christen made his big move to bridge the gap and make it a trio fighting for the win. Hirschi then tried to repay his Tudor teammates' early work just before the 5km to go mark, with Morgado quickly jumping on his wheel.

Finally, UAE were brought victory through Christen's final burst away from Scaroni and Wandahl, as Morgado capped off another perfect day for cycling's top team by leaving Hirschi behind and snatching the podium from the faltering Dane.

James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.