Mallorca Challenge: Cummings wins on Mirador d'Es Colomer

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Stephen Cummings got his MTN-Qhubeka career off to a flying start with victory Trofeo Andratx-Mirador d'es Colomer after a late attack on the Mirador d’Es Colomer. Cummings went clear in the final kilometre and held off a challenge from Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) to take the win. Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Garmin) won the sprint behind to take third place.

"I'm really happy with today's victory," Cummings said. "I knew I had done a lot of good work over the winter so I'd like to thank the team for the amazing work they did and chance they gave me to focus on today's race. I was able to come back to the front right near the end and snatch the victory, so I'm really happy with the result."

It is the first win for Cummings since he claimed the overall classification at last year’s Tour Méditerranéen. The victory comes just a day after the South African team lost Andreas Stauff to a broken collarbone after the German crashed in the final three kilometres of the Trofeo Santanyi-SesSalines-Campos.

The second race of the Mallorca Challenge began by the Playa de Palma, taking the riders over three classified climbs before the last, punchy ascent towards the finish on Mirador d’Es Colomer. A total of 10 riders escaped in the opening kilometres, including Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale-Garmin), Huub Duyn (Roompot), José Gonçalves (Caja Rural-RGA,), Johann Van Zyl (MTN Qhubeka), Igor Merino (Burgos BH), Imanol Estévez (Murias Taldea), Nico Brungger (Roth-Skoda), Marcos Jurado (Spain) and Mark Christian (Great Britain).

Gonçalves was the first of the escapees try his hand alone, hovering up the mountains points on the Col de Claret and the Puig Major. The Caja Rural rider had been reeled back in when Greipel launched a move off the front of the bunch. The German built up an advantage of 30 seconds over the chasing riders, which included Gonçalves. Greipel’s efforts earned him the award for the most combative rider of the day.

The peloton finally caught the remnants of the break with two kilometres to go.

Results