Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-Easypost) steamrolled from a reduced bunch sprint to win the Trofeo Port d’Alcúdia on the second day of racing at Challenge Mallorca. Ethan Vernon (Soudal-QuickStep) followed in second and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) took third.
The last kilometre was led by sets of riders from EF Education-EasyPost, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty and Bora-Hansgrohe along the damp Balearic island roads. The 23-year-old, in his second year with the US-based WorldTour team, timed his final sprint perfectly and scored his first victory since 2021.
The 158.6 km route was all about the back-to-back categorised climbs of Coll Sa Batalla and Coll Femenia that set up the final 28.6km to the flat finish in Alcúdia.
With 34.5km to go, on the approach to the final ascents, the breakaway duo of Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) and Luis Ángel Maté (Euskaltel-Euskadi) continued to set the pace until Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgroghe) created a gap at the front of the peloton on the decent for a brief solo lead.
On the damp roads to the finish to Alcúdia, a reduced group brought it all back together with 7km to go to set the stage for a sprint final.
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