Fischer wins Trofeo Magaluf–Palmanova

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Garmin-Cervélo's Murilo Fischer netted his team's ninth victory of the season, topping Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) in the sprint of the Trofeo Magalluf - Palmanova.

With five classified mountains on the route, the fifth and final round of the Challenge Mallorca shouldn't have been a sprinter's stage on paper, but even with the category 3 Coll d'es Tords within the final 20km, the day's breakaway did not survive.

The stage started with an attack by Oleg Chuzdha (Caja Rural), who gained 1:30 before being reeled in 10km later.

Ahead of the category 2 Coll de sa Gramola, Adrián Palomares (Andalucía-Caja Granada) escaped the peloton, and was joined by Inaki Isasi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and later David Belda (2016-Burgos Castilla y Leon).

The trio gained a maximum 4:50 advantage as crashes plagued the peloton behind. On the Coll de Sóller, the advantage had shrunk to mere seconds when three more men escaped. Mikel Landa and Gorka Izigirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Arkaitz Duran (Geox-TMC) tried to bridge across, but on the descent all six riders were brought back to the peloton.

Five more riders broke free on the Coll de Claret: Javier Ramírez (Andalucía-Caja Granada), Sergio Mantecón (Spanish National Team), Jose Herrada (Caja Rural), and Jonathan Castroviejo (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The group never gained more than 41 seconds, and with 10km to go the peloton was back together for the rapid descent off the final climb, the Coll d'es Tords.

A late attack by Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) was brought back by the Movistar team, and while several other riders tried their hand in the final kilometres, it was Fischer who topped the mass sprint in Palmanova.