Greipel wins the first Challenge Mallorca race

Image 1 of 6

Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) won the opening race of the Challenge Mallorca series, hitting the finish line a bike length clear after dominating sprint to the finish in Porreres, south of Palma.

The German sprinter beat Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data). Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale) was fourth, with Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) fifth. Britain’s Andy Fenn (Team Sky) was seventh, with Owen Doull (Great Britain) 14th. Bradley Wiggins rode for the Great Britain team and finished safely in the peloton in 135th place.

The sprint came after the peloton tackled the short fourth category El Coll is Monjos climb with just five kliometres to but Greipel had the strength to handle the climb and win the sprint, raising one am in the air in celebration.

The race marked the start of Greipel’s 2016 season and showed he has enjoyed an excellent winter of training. It is the 124th victory of his 12-year professional career.

"It's always good to start the season with a victory and also finish off the work of the team, I think it was a deserved victory," Greipel told Biciclismo after collecting the flowers and a giant cheque on the podium.

“It's my seventh consecutive time here so I know the roads quite well. I like this race, I like to ride here, the weather is fantastic, it's like early spring in January and it’s a pleasure to compete in these conditions, "

Greipel confirmed that his Lotto Soudal teammates did a lot of the work to chase down the early break and the late attacks.

"The start was very quick before the break went clear and we then tried to control the race. The guys did a good job to keep the difference at bay and end our launch worked well. The last 40 kilometres were very fast, with the wind on the left side, so we had to push as hard as we could to keep things in order but I have a great team and we did." Greipel concluded.

How it happened

The 174km race was the first of four races that make up the Challenge Mallorca series; with riders able to swap out from races as they and their teams feel fit, depending on fitness and the race profiles.

This first race includes four fourth category climbs but the sprinters and their teams were determined to control the race.

The early attacks were all pulled back and the break of the race eventually formed after 26km when Domingos Goncalves (Caja Rural) got away. He was quickly joined by Eneko Lizarralde (Euskadi Basque Country–Murias) and Grischa Janorschke (Team Roth) of Germany. They opened a four-minute lead but the peloton kept them in check despite gusting winds making things difficult.

The peloton came back together under the impetus of the sprinters’ teams with 25km to go but then first—year senior rider Xavier Canellas, riding for the Spanish national team, attacked alone. He opened a 30-second lead and hung off the front until six kilometres to go.

The peloton hit the last climb all together. Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-QuickStep), Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale) and Ángel Madrazo (Caja Rural) tried attacks but the speed was high and the front of the peloton quickly reformed over the top of the climb.

The final two hundred metres were on straight road with a left turn just before the finish line. Greipel made sure he had the best line and came through the curve near the barriers to hit the finish with an arm in the air.

On Friday many of the same riders from the first Challenge Mallorca race will be in action in the Trofeo Pollenca-Port de Andratx race which includes several serious climbs and a rolling finish.

Full Results