Lennert Van Eetvelt conquers Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana at Challenge Mallorca

A powerful late sprint has netted young Belgian Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) the Trofeo Serra Tramuntana, outpowering top favourites Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) for the biggest victory of his career.

In a virtual replay of the Trofeo Calvià two days ago, won by Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost), McNulty and Vlasov were two of the strongest riders again, forcing the winning move on the key climb of Puig Mayor, only for the third man to triumph.

The American, who later complained of the cramps that had also affected him two days ago, led out the sprint and Vlasov quickly overtook him, but Van Eetvelt was then the fastest.

Apart from seeing off two pre-race favourites, Van Eetvelt's victory in Tramuntana is both the first for his team and the first for Belgium in the 2024 road season.

"[I had] Luck, but also the legs," Van Eetvelt said later in an interview with his team. "I already felt last Wednesday that my shape was good, but the result was bad, cause I made a few mistakes in the race. Today all went well. I had a super good day, luck on my side and I have to admit, I’m climbing better than last year. I improved a lot in the winter.

Van Eetvelt said he had not been nervous despite taking on two such formidable rivals as Vlasov and McNulty, pointing out that "in a sprint with climbers, I know I'm not slow."

"And, I have to admit, I did a recon of the final yesterday. Last year, in stage 20 of the Vuelta I also had to do a small group sprint and I only got fourth. I did not know the final and I didn’t want to make that mistake here."

" So I did a recon and knew how to handle things. That was a big advantage today."

On an ultra-fast day of racing with an average speed of 47kph in the first few hours, an eight-rider break formed early on, only to be overtaken by Jonas Gregaard (Lotto-Dstny) on the ascent of the second-category Col de Soller. Gregaard was in turn sucked in by the remnants of the peloton at the foot of the longest climb of the day, and indeed in the whole of Mallorca, the first-category 14.2km Puig Mayor. 

Following a concentrated mass attack by EF Education First-Easy Post on the lower, densely wooded slopes of Puig Mayor, Calvià winner Simon Carr's early effort was eclipsed by an eight-strong group containing McNulty, Vlasov and several of his own teammates.

Meanwhile, Mauri Vansevenant, working for Soudal-QuickStep teammate Ilan van Wilder, tried to bring back a second chase group into contention and as the broad, well-surfaced highway wended its way steadily upwards, finally the front group swelled to nearly two dozen.

EF briefly continued to show their hand as James Shaw powered on, only for UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe to take more definitive command. Vlasov then made a sustained surge about five kilometres from the top of Puig Mayor, but McNulty was quick to shadow him and Van Eetvelt, second in the same Tramuntana race last year but on a radically different course, subsequently managed to bridge the gap a few seconds later. 

Van Wilder looked strong in the closest three-man chase group yet despite his sustained efforts with assistance from Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), the leading trio’s collaboration was effective enough to keep them clear. 

As a result, after the fast, snaking first part of the long descent off the Mallorca mountains, their advantage had stretched to almost a minute. By this point, barring a major incident, the names of the three riders set to fill the podium of the day, if not their order, were decided.

Heading down into Lluch, the three stayed together and as they entered the final kilometre, McNulty was in the front, swinging from one side of the road to the other to try to force the other two through. The American led out the sprint on the twisting uphill finish and Vlasov countered, but Van Eetvelt was able to drive home to claim a comfortable win, by far the biggest pro victory of his career to date.

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