After a long day in the breakaway, Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost) scored the sixth win of his career at the Challenge Mallorca – Trofeo Calvià, outsprinting Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the dash to the finish line in Palmanova.
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), who had attacked with Vlasov 60km from the line, finished third after suffering from cramps inside the final 4km and dropping away from the leading trio.
Carr was left with Vlasov on the final run to the finish, and he stuck closely to the Russian before picking his spot inside the final few hundred metres of the race, blowing past to score the win.
"It was just instinct,” Carr said after his win. "Our DS Tejay [Van Garderen] was telling me to let off the wheel a little bit and surprise him, so I was just focused on him and when he was going to launch his sprint and just timing that right.
"I think in the end I had the jump on him anyway. I was just super focused on what he was doing and not looking back at all. I let him do that.
"It's great to win this race, especially coming off winning Langkawi last year. This winter has been smoother than any other winter I have had as a pro, so now I can really show what I can do, instead of just catching up all the time. I am very happy."
Carr had been out front since the very early stages of the 150km race, venturing into what would turn into a six-man breakaway over the hills in eastern Mallorca.
He proved to be the strongest man from the move once UAE Team Emirates decided to kick off the action in the peloton via Marc Soler with 70km to go. Carr hung in there as Vlasov, Soler, and McNulty hit the front of the race, outlasting the Spaniard and sticking with his two new companions on the hilly run back to the finishing town.
Despite having 126km of breakaway riding in his legs, Carr still had enough to outpace Vlasov to the finish line. The pair were left alone in the final kilometres after McNulty was hit by cramps in both legs on the run to Palmanova. He'd hang on for third place, however, finishing 27 seconds down.
Alex Aranburu (Movistar) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) had fought valiantly in the chase for around 40km, and they were rewarded with fourth and fifth places for their efforts at 1:32 down while Rui Costa (Intermarché-Wanty) led the peloton home a further half minute back.
"It was a really hard race," Vlasov, sporting a bandaged arm following a crash in training, said after the finish." The last part was full gas. It was hard, as we expected. We wanted to do it as hard as possible to arrive in the final with less people.
"Unfortunately, I didn't win but it's a good start to the season. I just did my race and had fun today."
How it unfolded
The hilly 150km route of the Trofeo Calvià brought attacks early on as riders fought to make the break of the day, with Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost) joined out front by Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma) inside the first 25km of racing.
Local team Illes Baleaes Arabay sent their man Joan Riera up the road, too, along with Iván Romeo (Movistar), Mattia Bais (Polti-Kometa), and Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi).
The group was clear on the first challenging hills of the day, the Coll des Grau (3.3km at 6.7%) and Coll den Claret (5.2km at 4.6%), building their advantage over the peloton, though by the top of the Coll den Sóler (4km at 5.2%) after 63km of racing, Riera was out of the group.
The next climb of the Coll den Bleda (4km at 5.2%) saw Juaristi drop too, leaving four men out front heading into the second half of the race. It wouldn't be long before the action in the peloton would begin, however.
Shortly after the Coll den Bleda, there were splits in peloton as UAE Team Emirates drove the pace at over four minutes down on the leaders. Their rider Soler made the first major move at 70km from the line, setting up his teammate, 2022 race winner McNulty, for the upcoming hills.
Vlasov was quick to react, joining the duo in the move over the ragged terrain of eastern Mallorca as they hunted down the breakaway.
Up front, Carr, Bais, and Castrillo remained, though the trio would turn to a sextet as Soler, McNulty, and Vlasov caught them heading into the final 40km. In the peloton, which was by that point 30 seconds down, Alex Aranburu (Movistar) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) made a move to go clear in the chase.
35km out, Soler's job was done as he dropped from the front, joining Castrillo and Bais to leave McNulty, Carr, and Vlasov in the lead. Aranburu and Bettiol scooped up the dropped trio, but they wouldn't make it any closer to the three leaders, while the peloton lay two minutes down.
Aranburu and Bettiol would only drift further from the lead as the riders raced back towards Palmanova with the gap hitting a minute as they hit the final 20km. The peloton, which would prove equally inconsequential in the final, lay three minutes down.
With the chasers and the peloton well out of it, the run to the finish proved to be a waiting game as Carr hung in there with the two fresher men, anticipating a late attack of possible three-up sprint finish.
In the end, that scenario didn't play out with McNulty suddenly dropping out of contention on a downhill run just inside the final 5km. The US rider later admitted that he was suffering with cramps in both legs, though he held on to finish third.
Up front, Carr stuck with Vlasov all the way to the line before deploying his last bit of energy with a late burst for the finish line. He'd get his way, beating the Russian GC star to take a well-earned victory on his first race day of the 2024 season.
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