McEwen returns to winners' circle in Mallorca

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Australian Robbie McEwen (Katusha) today claimed his first win in almost eight months with victory in the Trophy Palma, the opening stage of the 2010 Challenge Mallorca.

McEwen commenced his sprint with 300 metres to go and rode to an impressive win over Koldo Fernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Oscar Freire (Rabobank).

It was an especially pleasing result for McEwen, who has faced a long road back from a serious knee injury suffered in last year's Tour of Belgium. "I'm really happy for this victory. It's my second career after the injury I had last season and that kept me from racing for 7 months and is a very important victory for me," he said afterwards.

"For me, the most important thing is that I have no discomfort in my leg, I feel fine and I can compete again with the best "

"The sprint was difficult, because I had to control a lot of riders and there were a lot of strong teams there. Skil-Shimano has prepared the sprint for the final kilometre and I jumped at 300 meters when I saw Freire go."

Sprinters reign supreme in Spain

Clear conditions had met the peloton for the opening stage of the 2010 Challenge Mallorca. The early stages of the race were marked by Andalucía-CajaSur's attempts to break free of the main bunch, with Xabier Zabala (Orbea), Toni Tauler (Spanish National Team) and Aleksejs Saramotins (HTC-Columbia) all making their own bids for individual glory.

However, none of the attacks were given any lee-way and none were able to stretch their advantage beyond 30 seconds. In the end, it was the teams of the sprinters who took control of the peloton for the finale.

Clearly in form after his debut at the Tour Down Under last month, it was McEwen who proved the fastest in the sprint in the city of Palma.