Trofeo Ses Salines

Good positioning from Movistar Team in closing stages comes unrewarded at Trofeo Ses Salines - three top-ten finishes: Rojas (3rd), Sanz (5th) and Ventoso (6th)

Movistar Team is approaching its first victory of the 2013 season as the team nearly profited from a big chance at the Trofeo Ses Salines, the second race of the Challenge de Mallorca, over 167km in the south of the Balearic island. Perfectly alerted from any splits from cross winds in the final 10k, the riders directed by Chente García Acosta and José Lusi Laguía -who had reconnoited and filmed the finish yesterday, immediately after the first sprint in Palma-, got into perfect position for the tricky 2k into the finish, with three roundabouts and two 90º turns.

The ‘train’ from the telephone squad came up-front, with youngster Enrique Sanz entering the final turn in second place, but the bigger effort from Aussie Leigh Howard (OGE), who went past the U-turn in first, got him the victory in front of American Tyler Farrar (GRS) and José Joaquín Rojas, who picked up the fair prize for the Blues with his 3rd spot. The three Movistar Team top-ten finishes -Sanz held on to take 5th, with Fran Ventoso in 6th- allowed a comfortable teams’ win and reaffirmated the quality from a block that will have an even bigger opportunity on Tuesdya during day three in the Challenge: the first mountain stage, the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, over 152.9km from Deià to the Monasterio de Lluc, with five categorized climbs.