Dutch fastman Marijn van den Berg timed his sprint perfectly in a brisk headwind to claim Trofeo Ses Salines at Challenge Mallorca for a second time in three years.
The EF Education-Easy Post racer comfortably fended off a late assault by Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) to repeat his 2024 win and take the first victory of the season for his team. Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) claimed third.
Although Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) tried for a late solo attack, the sprinters' team kept the second race of five of the one-day Challenge Mallorca series under firm control in the crucial final phase.
Van den Berg was placed in pole position in the closing kilometre behind two Uno-X riders and he left his move late in the headwind to move out from the barriers and pounce just as the finishing gantries approached.
"It was a bit of a different situation with the rain two years ago," Van den Berg said as he celebrated his first win in his first race of the 2025 season.
"Today we had some nice weather and I always like to race here in Mallorca so it's nice to win here again. We knew in the team that it was a little bit windy and so we planned to stay on the left-hand side [in the finish] where it was more sheltered. It was the perfect thing to do.
"First race, first win. Tomorrow [Friday] we go again. The terrain is very different, but I'll do my best to be up there again."
How it unfolded
Despite the long day of early-season racing that awaited, six riders were encouraged by the dry weather to make the early move on the relentlessly undulating 184-kilometre course: Edgar Curto (Illes Balears Arabay), Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellett BH), Victor Martínez (Sabgal-Anicolor), George Radcliffe (XSpeed United Continental), and Project Echelon duo Ethan Craine and Colby Lange. They quickly forged open a gap, peaking at just under four minutes as the race sped quickly across the ever-rolling terrain of southern Mallorca.
By 50 kilometres to the finish, the peloton had picked up the pace notably, and on the draggy ascent to the final category 4 climb of the day, while the break splintered, behind Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) opened a small gap.
The Italian's move failed to work out, however, and although Radcliffe valiantly tried to keep a solo effort going ahead in the break, he only held the narrowest of leads by the category 4 summit.
The Briton pressed on regardless, though, and after a gutsy move of well over 150 kilometres, he was finally caught as the teams with sprinters began winding things up for the finale. As was perhaps to be expected as they were fielding the 2023 winner, EF Education-EasyPost kept their riders close to the front, and Tudor Pro Cycling and Uno-X Mobility also played their part in keeping the pace high.
Portuguese national champion and former rainbow jersey Rui Costa continued to guide the EF Education troops in the flat but very winding finale, running between drystone walls and past the occasional grove of blossoming cherry trees - yet another reminder that spring is almost here in Spain.
Then just after, half a dozen riders were caught in a crash on the narrow, technical country roads, despite speeds already touching 50 to 60 kph, at which time Tour de France stage winner and Classics specialist Politt finally opted to test the waters solo. Although quickly being stomped out, the German's effort nonetheless caused another hike in the pace, with no team clearly dominating.
EF tried to respond to the constant changes of pace by creating their own mini-train on one side of the road, but Flanders-Baloise were the next to push into the head of affairs as the kilometre-to-go banner beckoned.
The bunch sprinters were all raring to go on the enticingly long, straight finishing straight, but a headwind forced riders to wait to launch their move. Ultimately, though, Van den Berg went for his second Les Salines victory at exactly the right moment: early enough to be sure of the win, but late enough to prevent anybody else from getting past.
Results
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