Mikel climbs to 4th in Mallorca

Mikel showed glimpses of his undoubted ability by placing 4th in the Trofeo Inca today, best of the rest behind a three-man break. Gerdemann escaped with highly-impressive Rafael Valls and Manuel Vázquez early on and grabbed the win in a sprint with his breakaway-companions. As said though, Mikel proved to be the strongest of the pack though, coming in 2:22 back, over ten seconds ahead of the next two riders. On a terrible day, weather-wise that is, some of the other riders shone as well. Beñat, making his debut for the team, came in a good 16th, while Amets came in with the same small group. The two diminutive climbers are showing good early-season form. Aitor and Igor came in 13 minutes and 20 seconds back, while the rest of the team, like most of the peloton today, ended up outside the time-limit or simply stood off underway.

Other Basques doing well today were Orbea's Mikel Landa and Izagirre Jr. Remember I told you to keep an eye on this pair? Jon Izagirre came in a very impressive 11th, while Mikel was 14th, both alongside (future team-mates?) Beñat and Amets, and small group of other good climbers. Xabier Zabalo ended up outside the time-limit, while the rest of the guys abandoned.