15 teams to Challenge Illes Balears 2005

The organisers of the Challenge Illes Balears-Volta Ciclista a Mallorca have announced the participation of 15 teams in the race running from February 6-10. Illes Balears (Spa), Euskaltel Euskadi (Spa), Team T-Mobile (Ger), Rabobank (Ned), Quick Step (Bel), Comunidad Valenciana (Spa), Relax Fuenlabrada (Spa), Saunier-Duval (Spa), Kaiku (Spa), Phonak (Swi), Orbea (Spa), Spiuk Safra (Spa), Grupo E-Bici.Com (Spa) and the Spanish track selection (Spa) will participate in the race, which consists of five Cat. 1.1 one-day races with an overall classification at the end.

The first race will start in Palma de Mallorca on the Balearic island. This year, the Mallorca Challenge will have a mountain finish on offer for the first time at the end of stage three, on the Mirador des Colomer (2nd category). All five stages may be entered separately, an overall classification possible for those riders completing all the stages. The organisers are still looking to attract more teams. However, the biggest names of this year's edition will be Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Alejandro Valverde (Comunidad Valenciana), Eric Zabel (T-Mobile) and Paolo Bettini (Quick Step).