Trofeo Muro - Port d'Alcudia

Second place behind Meersman (OPQ) in closing Mallorca trophy for the Spaniard, already near to victory in San Luis; strong performance by Plaza, Antón in early break

After being left out of contention yesterday in the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, the Movistar Team bounced back to their best performance today in the last day of competition in the 2014 Challenge Mallorca: the Trofeo Muro – Port d’Alcudia, a 162km, mid-mountain route with four rated climbs that made for a fast race full of attacks, concluded with a 30-man field sprint where Fran Ventoso was only beaten by Gianni Meersman (OPQ).

Rubén Plaza and Igor Antón were the men in charge of keeping the telephone squad calm as they made the day’s early break of fifteen riders, coming together through the summit of the Puigmajor (Cat. 2) but never let gain more than a minute and a half’s advantage over a bunch where teams with sprinters fought all day to keep things on their favour.

Following a late attack by Plaza alongside Portuguese Tiago Machado (TNE), caught after the climbs with 40k remaining, the peloton splitted into two groups, the Spaniard staying with Ventoso before a finish where the Cantabrian equalled his result from stage three in the Tour de San Luis and proved again his good legs in a 2014 season start he’s proven to be worth a win in order to end his negative streak.