The final race in the Mallorca Challenge came to its conclusion when Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma – QuickStep) won the Trofeo Platja de Muro. The Omega Pharma – QuickStep rider won from a small bunch sprint beating Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) and Ben Swift (Sky Procycling) to the line respectively.
As in the previous days racing, the peloton started off really fast with numerous attacks in the first hour. It wasn’t until the 41st kilometre that the break for the day finally established itself. Team MTN Qhubeka p/b Samsung rider, Johann van Zyl, was one of the riders that made it into the break along with Igor Anton (Movistar), Reuben Plaza (Movistar), Serge Pauwels (Omega Pharma – QuickStep), Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), Mikel Landa (Astana), Christian Meier (Orica GreenEdge), Jurgen Van den Broek (Lotto Belisol), Andre Cardoso (Garmin Sharp), Maxime Mederel (Europcar), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural), Tiago Machado (NetApp Endura), Miguel Minguez (Euskadi) and Jesus Del Pino (Burgos BH).
While the break pressed on over the 4 categorized climbs of the day, they were never really given much freedom by the peloton. Their maximum lead of just over a minute was wiped away with 48km to go by a group of 40 riders. As the leading group charged to the line at a frantic pace, the group was whittled down to just 29 riders who would eventually contest the sprint.
The highest placed Team MTN Qhubeka rider was Sergio Pardilla in 38th position. The team will now spend a further 5 days on the island of Mallorca to bring its 2 and half week training camp to an end.
