Meersman wins Trofeo Muro-Port d'Alcudia

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Less than two hours after Tom Boonen had triumphed in the Tour of Qatar, his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team-mate Gianni Meersman clinched a second sprint victory for the Belgian squad on Wednesday on the last day's racing in the Mallorca Challenge.

Following Michel Kwiatkowski's win at Lluc monastery on Tuesday - and the Pole was in the thick of the action again on Wednesday - this was Omega Pharma-Quick Step's second victory in as many days in the four-race series on Mallorca that since 1990 has acted as the curtain-raiser on the racing calendar in Spain.

Whilst Boonen and co. had to cope with strong winds on the relentless flatlands of Qatar, in Mallorca, Meersman and the rest of the pack were facing just the opposite kind of terrain: four classified ascents, including Mallorca's hardest climb, the Puig Major. Then came a fast descent off the last climb, the second category Coll d'Honor and a long flatter ride to the tourist resort of Port d'Alcudia, with a tail-wind pushing them most of the way, on the island's northern coast.

Although 180 riders started racing on a warm, breezy day, around 45 riders remained in the leading peloton as it came out of Mallorca's Tramuntana mountain range. Yet more attacks shattered even that smaller bunch and left the front group that fought it out for the final win of the 2014 Mallorca Challenge just 12 strong.

On the long, flat approach road into Port d'Alcudia, Meersman went for a short but all-out drive close to the right hand barriers, with his effort powerful enough to keep both local sprint star Fran Ventoso (Movistar) and Ben Swift (Sky) - second on Monday - at bay. Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida), already twice a winner in Mallorca this year, finished fourth.

"The final was quite fast, in the last 40 kilometres we were going at 55 or 60 kilometres an hour," Meersman, fourth on Mallorca's opening leg and third on Monday, said afterwards. "Sky had controlled the race, but in the last part we [Omega Pharma Quick Step] took it over, and I'm really pleased you could win."

"Edvald Boasson Hagen launched the sprint for [Sky team-mate] Ben Swift, Modolo also went and then I waited and Kwiatkowski took me up to their back wheel, so my timing was maybe a little bit better. I waited for 50 metres longer to start my sprint, and then I made my last effort to pass them."

Whilst the next race in Spain will be the five-day Tour of Andalusia next week, Meersman will now do another training camp, with Paris-Nice and Milan-San Remo in his sights a little further into the spring.

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