Hermans prevails in Trofeo Inca

Ben Hermans of RadioShack outsprinted his two breakaway companions to win the 157.2km Trofeo Inca. The 24-year-old Belgian bested Arkaitz Duran (Geox-TMC) and Xavier Tondo (Movistar) in Inca after the trio escaped near the summit of the category one Puig Major with approximately 40km to go.

"On the Puig Major, Movistar pulled for Tondo," said Hermans. "I saw a lot of guys suffering, but I still felt good. That's why I attacked at 1km from the top. Only Tondo and Duran were able to follow.

"We immediately took 20 seconds and in the last 40 K to the finish we built up the advantage to one minute with the three of us working well together. I was not so confident for the sprint, but apparently, the other two guys were still more tired than I was."

Earlier in the race Hermans had made a mistake approaching the first climb of the day, the category 2 Coll de Sóller at km 101.6.

"I made a bathroom stop just 2km before the start of the first climb. I had to start that climb between the cars as the last rider of the peloton but I knew I had to be more or less in the front at the top of the Coll de Sóller as the descent was said to be very wet and slippery. I did a 6km uphill sprint and went over the top in about 20th position. My legs still felt good."

HTC-Highroad's sprinter Leigh Howard was the first escapee of the day, attacking after only 10km and enjoying 14km of freedom before being caught. The pace remained high enough to keep the peloton together for a while, but eventually Adrian Palomares (Andalucia Caja Granada), Adrian Saez (Orbea Continental), Dimitri Claeys (Team NetApp) and Jason McCartney (RadioShack) were able to get away.

The peloton was happy with the composition of the breakaway and let the quartet build a lead of 9:47 before giving chase. McCartney was the first to drop out of the group, on the descent of the Paso de Soller, at km 102. Saez, who had also been in the previous day's escape, soon followed him.

Eventually Palomares dropped Claeys when the latter dropped his chain, but he, too, was caught by the field shortly after reaching the top of the day's last climb, the category one Puig Major.

On the descent, Ben Hermans (RadioShack), Xavier Tondo (Movistar) and Arkaitz Duran (Geox-TMC) pulled away and doggedly held on to their lead over a reduced peloton of some 25 riders.

The trio slowly stretched their advantage to over a minute with only 10km to go, and as they had a minute at the 5km mark, it was clear who would be on the podium - the only question was the order.