After securing double Tour de France stage wins last summer, Maeva Squiban has started her 2026 season with UAE Team ADQ in the best possible way with a victory at the Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx, the opening race of the Challenge Mallorca Femenina on Saturday.
The French rider launched repeated attacks to move away on the final ascent of the Puig de Sant Salvador with Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team), and when the pair reached the top, Squiban was the fastest in a two-up sprint to take the win.
Squiban benefited from a masterclass in teamwork from her UAE Team ADQ teammates Silvia Persico and Karlijn Swinkels on the lower slopes of the five-kilometre climb before riding away from the selection with Reusser under the flamme rouge.
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After her monster effort, Persico still managed to hang on for third place on the day, finishing 30 seconds behind the leading pair, with Swinkels also up there in fifth.
The Challenge Mallorca Femenina continues on Sunday at the Trofeo Llucmajor.
How it unfoled
The opening one-day race of the Challenge Mallorca Femenina was as punchy as ever, with the 128.8km race from Marratxí to Felanitx featuring three category four climbs before finishing at the top of the Puig de Sant Salvador.
Three days of warm-weather racing have attracted some of the best teams, including five top-tier squads all raring to get back to competition after a long off-season, and looking for the season's first victories.
The two previous champions were not in attendance: 2025 winner Lotta Henttala has retired, while inaugural winner Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) is racing in Australia, where she recently secured back-to-back titles at the Tour Down Under.
A breakaway didn't set off until the later stages of the race with Natalie Quinn (Mayenne Monbana My Pie), Anne van Rooijen (DAS-Hutchinson), Marta Pavesi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo), Petra Ševčíková (Dukla Women Cycling) and Eva Anguela (Cantabria Deporte-Rio Miera).
A gap of only 35 seconds with 35km to go, coupled with a challenging uphill finale, meant that the likelihood of it staying away was slim. The breakaway was reduced to three with Van Rooijen, Pavesi and Anguela pushed ahead over the last category four ascent, Hereu Mas.
The three built their lead to over a minute as they approached the base of the Puig de Sant Salvador, a five-kilometre climb that averaged 6.5% all the way into the finish line.
It wasn't enough of a gap, however, as Movistar set a fast pace behind for Reusser, and the race for the victory kicked off as soon as the peloton reached the climb. The trio were caught with four kilometres to go.
UAE Team ADQ's Persico and Swinkels pulled up the lower slopes causing a selection to form, setting up teammate Squiban for a powerful attack.
Reusser quickly latched onto her wheel, and the pair raced into the final kilometre together, setting up for a two-rider sprint. It was Squiban who got the jump on Reusser and crossed the line with the victory.
Results
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