Pelayo Sánchez won the Trofeo Pollença-Port d’Andratx. After a thrilling final, Movistar’s recent acquisition defeated Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-Hansgrohe) in the sprint.
Young UAE Team Emirates signing on escape of the day
The route of the Trofeo Pollença-Port d’Andratx successively included, o Coll de Femenías, Coll Puig Mayer and the last sixty km o Coll den Bleda (4.1 km at 5.2%), Coll de sa Pedrissa (6.5 km at 4.9%) and Coll de Sa Gramola (3.8 km at 4.2%).
After several attacks that always ended up being neutralized, Igor Arrieta, new signing of UAE Team Emirates opened an escape with more than half a minute of advantage. He managed to travel more than twenty kilometers alone.
On the final climb, the previous day’s Challenge Mallorca winner, Belgian Lennert van Eetvelt, escaped and caught Arrieta with 13 km to go.
Behind, a tremendous fight between the favorites with Aleksandr Vlasov leading the group that also included Brandon McNulty, Marc Soler, Ilan van Wilder, and Gregor Mühlberger for the Movistar Team.
Van Eetvelt took a solo flight, with 11 kilometers to go until the finish line. Arrieta was 10 seconds behind and the group of favorites was 15 seconds behind. A very brave Arrieta caught the Belgian at the end of the descent and tried to escape. He risked so much that he ended up falling just 6km from the finish line.
Thus, van Eetvelt was the only one in the lead with a very small advantage over the chasing group. With 3km to go, the gap was around 10 seconds. He was chased 2km from the finish line and Marc Soler attempted an attack that cut through the group. In the end the smartest one was Pelayo Sanchez, who gave the Movistar Team the victory.
Watch the arrival
Results of Trofeo Pollença – Port d’Andratx