Murilo Fischer (Garmin-Cervélo) won the Trofeo Magalluf-Palmanova, the final event in this year’s Mallorca Challenge, in a bunch sprint. The Brazilian champion outsprinted three-time World champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) inot second place, with yesterday’s Trofeo Deià winner José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) third.
The early part of the hilly 158.5km race, on the western side of the island, was controlled by the Movistar team. It was unable to prevent all attacks though and Adrian Palomares (Andalucia-Caja Granada), Iñaki Isasi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and David Belda (Burgos 2016) managed to escape.
After 44km the trio led the peloton by 4 minutes, but they were eventually pulled back at the 96km point as the race reached the top of the Coll de Sóller.
Soon after the breakaway group was caught there was an attack from Sergio Mantecón (Spain) with Javier Ramirez (Andalucia-Caja Granada); they were joined by the Euskaltel-Euskadi duo of Ion Izagirre and Jonathan Castroviejo, and Aritz Etxebarria (Orbea). The five riders were only able to get 40 seconds clear of the Movistar controlled peloton though, and were caught on the final climb of the day, the Coll des Tords, with 13km to go.
With Rojas confident after yesterday’s win the Movistar team brought the peloton into the finish, but it was Fischer who was the fastest; the Brazilian took Garmin-Cervélo’s third victory in the five race series after Tyler Farrar’s double in the first two.
Result Trofeo Magalluf-Palmanova
1. Murilo Fischer (Bra) Garmin-Cervélo
2. Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
3. José Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar
4. Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar
5. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Leopard Trek
6. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Cofidis
7. Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quick Step
8. Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto
9. Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank
10. John Degenkolb (Ger) HTC-Highroad