Tim Wellens won the Trofeo Andratx yesterday, the third race of Challenge Mallorca, to make it three out of three for the Lotto-Soudal team after André Greipel had won the first of four races on Thursday and Wellens had won Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana on Friday.
A breakaway of eleven riders was formed early on the stage to the Mirador d’es Colomer and they gained an advantage of just over four minutes, but that dropped quickly as the peloton started to chase in earnest.
Before the top of the Puig Major with 55 kilometres remaining, they were all caught. There were a number of attacks thereafter, but they were all brought back to ensure that the race would be decided on the three-kilometre long climb out of Port de Pollenca.
Tim Wellens accelerated at the bottom and was able to stay clear until the finish. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) finished second. Wellens’ team mates Tiesj Benoot finished third and Louis Vervaeke fourth, to cap off a great race for the Belgian tea,
Tim Wellens: “I really hadn’t expected this. It was the plan that I would attack at the bottom of the climb and would go over my limit, so the others would need to do that too. Afterwards Tiesj Benoot and Louis Vervaeke had to attack. Just like yesterday our team took control of the race.”
“After the Puig Major Bart De Clercq and Tomasz Marczynski attacked. We wanted to isolate Alejandro Valverde and that was a success. Frederik Frison brought us in the perfect position to the bottom of the climb and then I attacked. This was once again a team performance. Everyone contributed to this victory.”
“It’s wonderful to beat Valverde on such a finish. In the sprint he would have been faster. I find this second win even more beautiful than the one of yesterday because there was more tension. I won’t race tomorrow, but I might go and cheer for the boys to conquer that fourth victory!”
