Challenge Mallorca: Moschetti makes it two with victory in Trofeo Palma

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Matteo Moschetti (Trek-Segafredo) made it two wins and a perfect start to the season at the Challenge Mallorca, backing up his opening-day victory with another triumph in the Trofeo Palma on the final day. 

The Italian beat Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Andrea Pasqualon (Circus-Wanty Gobert) to the line in a bunch sprint in Palma. 

After a debut professional season with glimpses of promise but no victory, the 23-year-old now has two wins from two appearances in 2020. 

Challenge Mallorca is a series of four one-day races, rather than a stage race and, after winning the Trofeo Felanitx, Ses Salines, Campos Porreres on Thursday, Moschetti chose to sit out the following two races, which were more suited to climbers. 

He returned on Sunday to deliver a powerful sprint to get the better of Ackermann, one of last year's leading sprinters, for a second time in a week. 

"The first day was a surprise, first of all for me, and also for the guys, but today we were ready for the win from the start," Moschetti said. "We showed we can control the race and have a good result. We are a strong team.

"In the last kilometer, we were just behind the train of Bora-Hansgrohe. In the last 100 meters, I took the wheel of Ackermann, and in the last 50, I tried to give my best, and yeah, it was enough. I am super happy."

The final day of the Challenge Mallorca was always liable to finish in a bunch sprint but the climb and descent of the Col sa Creu - 6.4km at 3.7 per cent - ahead of the flat finishing circuit complicated matters. 

It was there that the race ignited, with Movistar's Enric Mas kicking off the hostilities and sparking a chaotic period of the race. The day's early breakaway - Lluis Mas (Movistar), Brian Van Goethem (Lotto Soudal), Alvarao Cuadros (Caja Rural) - were caught, and moves came and went on the descent. 

By the bottom, four riders - Jempy Drucker (Bora-Hansgrohe), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Stefano Oldani (Lotto Soudal) and Loïc Vliegen (Circus-Wanty Gobert) - had pulled clear to take a slim lead onto the first of two laps of the 10km finishing circuit. 

The peloton, however, made no mistake and dragged it back for a bunch sprint, where Moschetti showed again he's a force to be reckoned with this season.