Movistar Team has been engaged to the podium van of the 2011 Challenge a Mallorca right from the very start of the competition last Sunday. All five trophies in the Balearic race saw the riders directed by José Luis Jaimerena and José Luis Arrieta jump onto the scene every single evening.

Ventoso, 3rd placed in the  Trofeo Palma; Pasamontes, winner of the KOM and Combativity prizes the day after, and Tondo, 3rd in the Trofeo Inca, anticipated the big triumph by J.J. Rojas atop the uphill finish of Deià yesterday. And the blue riders finished off today with their superb performance with the third place by Rojas and the fourth by Fran Ventoso in the Trofeo Magaluf-Palmanova, the closing ride of this year’s race. Brazil’s Murilo Fischer and 3-time world road champion Óscar Freire were the only able to beat the two sprinters from the Spanish squad. “It’s been a pity, because I took chances in the final turn to lead Ventoso out, but when I looked back I saw he wasn’t coming on my wheel,” explained Rojas. “In the last corner, I saw a rider digging into my position and it took me a bit out of contention –endorsed Ventoso with his words- You can’t win everyday.” Both separately coincided on defining their teammates’ performances as “amazing”. Just because Movistar Team was, for one more day, the holder of the leading position on the bunch for almost the entire stage.

“I think we were too generous today,” analyzed sports director José Luis Jaimerena, “and some teams must have appreciated that. When you see youself with options to win, you give everything, but sometimes you’ve got to save a bit of energy. However, the outcome of all these days is really positive. We only won a race, but we almost didn’t get out of the podium. The most important thing after all is the average level shown by the team. All of them look really good.“