Biniam Girmay wins Trofeo Port d’Alcúdia

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Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) won the Trofeo Port d’Alcúdia in a reduced bunch finish. The Eritrean produced a crisp sprint to beat Ryan Gibbons (UAE Team Emirates) to the line, with Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel Premier Tech) placing third.

Movistar, UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe were prominent in ensuring a group finish in Port d’Alcudia, but it was Girmay – silver medallist in the U23 road race at last year’s Worlds – who proved the quickest in the sprint, winning by more than a bike length.
 
There was a rapid start to proceedings left Port d’Alcúdia, with a flurry of early attacks lining out the peloton in the opening 15km before a four-man break eventually established itself. Yentl Vandvelde (Minerva), Raul Colombo (Work Service-Vitalcare-Dynatek), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskatel-Euskadi) and Tuur Dens (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) were the escapees, and they established a lead of 5:15 on the peloton ahead of the day’s first ascent, the category 4 Coll d’Artà.

Israel Premier Tech and Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert were the first teams to marshal a pursuit, and they were soon joined by BikeExchange-Jayo, who were riding on behalf of Michael Matthews, and the leading quartet’s advantage receded accordingly.

At the foot of the day’s principal difficulty, the Coll de Sa Batalla, the gap was down to 3:10 and the break’s crumbled still further as the race ignited behind them. Bora-Hansgrohe were prominent in ramping up the pressure on the climb to tee up an attack from 18-year-old Cian Uijtdebroeks, whose acceleration was tracked by Ivan Sosa (Movistar), Felix Gall (AG2R Citroen), Damien Howson (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Marco Haller (Bora-Hansgrohe).

That attack saw UAE Team Emirates spring into action to lead the pursuit. Their pace-making eventually brought Uijtdebroecks et al to heel and it also served to whittle the peloton down to fifty or so riders on the approach to the summit, with Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) among the established sprinters to lose contact.

By then, Bizkarra was the only survivor of the day’s early break, and the Basque crested the summit with 1:17 in hand on the peloton and 34km still to race. He stuck to his task on the following short haul up the Coll de Femenia, but his lead was soon pared down to a handful of seconds, and he was swept up by the reduced front group on the drop to the finish in Port d’Alcúdia with 25km remaining.