Brandon McNulty wins Trofeo Calvia

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Brandon McNulty of UAE Team Emirates produced a remarkable solo breakaway to win the Trofeo Calvia, the first of the Challenge Mallorca races, forging clear with some 60km remaining and then fending off a select chasing group all the way to the finish in Palmanova.

The American rolled home some 1:17 clear of the eight chasers, who were led across the line by his teammate Joel Suter, with Vincenzo Albanese (Eolo-Kometa) beating Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) to final spot on the podium.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was part of that group as he kicked-off his final season as a professional, taking sixth place and somehow winning the prize for the day’s most combative rider despite McNulty’s aggression and his victorious lone raid.

McNulty first went on the offensive on the Coll den Blenda, where his acceleration helped to splinter the peloton, and he persisted in his efforts over the other side, eventually jumping away alone ahead of the Coll den Claret. By the summit, McNulty had 50 seconds in hand on a group of chasers that included Wellens, Valverde, Matteo Jorgensen (Movistar) and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Although the pursuers initially managed to shave a handful of seconds off McNulty’s advantage, his ability as a rouleur and their lack of cohesion saw the balance swing back in favour of the lone leader on the undulating run towards the finish.

Once McNulty stretched his lead out to 1:15 with 15km to go, it was already apparent that the chasing group of Valverde, Buchmann, Suter, Wellens, Albanese, Simon Clarke (Israel Premier Tech), Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty) and Lukasz Owsian (Arkea-Samsic) al was fighting for second place in the opening event of the Challenge Mallorca. 

Further behind, meanwhile, Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) won the bunch sprint for 10th place, 2:55 down on McNulty.

The win was McNulty’s first since he won the Giro di Sicilia for Team Rally in 2019, though the Arizon had already impressed across his first two seasons at UAE Team Emirates, placing 15th overall at the 2020 Giro d’Italia and riding in support of Tadej Pogačar at last year’s Tour de France.

McNulty is in line to ride in Pogačar’s service again at this year’s Tour, but he will have some opportunities of his own in shorter stage races, beginning with the Volta ao Algarve next month.

How it unfolded

The opening road race of the European season took place in Valencia at the weekend, but the opening day of the Challenge Mallorca marked the first 1.1 category race of the year and the beginning of the campaign for 10 WorldTour squads.

The Trofeo Calvia, with five classified climbs across its 154.7km, is one of the hillier events in the five days of racing in Mallorca and there was no shortage of riders eager to take advantage of that terrain in the opening part of the race.

The first break formed barely 10km after the start in Peguera, when Pablo Alonso (Electro Hiper Europa-Caldas), Mirco Maestri (Eolo-Kometa) and James Piccoli (Israel Premier Tech) forged clear of the peloton. Piccoli led that trio over the Coll des Tords with a buffer of 4:23 over the peloton, and that extended to 7:10 before Movistar and Lotto Soudal instigated the pursuit behind.

Come the summit of the Coll den Claret after 40km, the break’s advantage had dropped inside five minutes, and it began to tumble rapidly thereafter. At the top of the day’s third ascent, the Coll de Sóller, Piccoli, Maestri and Montes retained just a minute of their lead, and they were caught by the peloton with 72km remaining.

By then, the race was already on the Coll den Bleda, where a group of strongmen led by Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) forced its way clear. 

McNulty was initially joined by rideders including 18-year-old neo-professional Cian Uijt Den Broeks (Bora-Hansgrohe), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty) and the dogged Piccoli in that move, but the American clipped away over the other side, and he began the second ascent of the Coll den Claret alone at the head of the race with 40 seconds in hand.

Behind, the peloton had splintered into shards, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic), Simon Clarke (Israel Premier Tech), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange), Uijtdebroeks, Piccoli and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) among the prominent names in the group chasing McNulty on the climb.

Such was the intensity of the race that only eight riders remained in the chasing group on the run-in, but despite the presence of Valverde, Buchmann and Wellens, they could make only modest inroads into the advantage of McNulty, who they wouldn’t see again before the finish in Palmanova.