Movistar sprinter takes his first win in 18 months to open Spanish superteam’s European account
José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar) won the Trofeo Deià, the fourth race in the Mallorca Challenge, in an uphill sprint from a group of 34 riders. The Spanish sprinter beat Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) into second place, with Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) into third.
The victory is the first for Rojas since taking the second stage of the Tour de l’Ain in August 2009.
“To tell the truth, I had lost a bit of confidence on myself," said Rojas after his victory, "and if I recovered it, it was thanks to the team, who was always supporting me all over the race, and also to my teammate Ventoso, who convinced me I could win and it was going to be my day.
“We had chances with [Xavier] Tondo and [Sergio] Pardilla if the race broke into pieces, plus Fran's [Ventoso] and mine if it came to a sprint. Ventoso told me he wasn't having a good day and to try it by myself.
“I knew the finish from last year,” he explained, “I had good legs and I knew I had to come into the last corner first. It was a pity I couldn't celebrate it as it deserved, because there were some riders who had jumped away from the bunch before and I didn't know if there was someone ahead of us, so I didn't raise my arms at the finish.
I take more than ten podium places every year,” he added, “but it was getting hard to take it to a victory. At the end, so many close calls led to a win.
The mountainous 143km course began with a number of riders attempting to get away; none was successful though until Philippe Gilbert (OmegaPharma-Lotto), Giampaolo Cheula (Geox-TMC), Davide Malacarne (Quick Step), Romain Zingle (Cofidis) and Xabier Zabalo (Orbea) escaped.
After 50km the five riders led by 2’37”, but this was not to prove enough and the peloton steadily reeled them in, and they were caught at the 116km point.
In the closing stages there were several attempts to get away, from Duarte (Geox) and Cabedo (Caja Rural), then Peter Velits and Tejay Van Garderen (both HTC-Highroad), with David De la Fuente (Geox-TMC). The Movistar and Euskaltel-Euskadi teams were controlling the peloton though, not allowing anyone to escape.
On the uphill finishing straight Rojas proved the strongest, taking his first victory in a year and a half, and opening the Spanish team’s European account for 2011.
“Of course I want to dedicate this to all Movistar Team members and also to my friend Alejandro Valverde,” said Rojas, “who was following the race today, who is having a bad time and whom I think we will see at his best when he returns."
Result Trofeo Deià
1. José Rojas (Spa) Movistar
2. Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
3. Juan Jose Cobo (Spa) Geox-TMC
4. Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank
5. Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad
6. Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar
7. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Cervélo
8. Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Katusha
9. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha
10. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step