Euskaltel go all-out in Palmanova

Euskaltel tried bravely and whole-heartedly to secure the team's first win of the season at today's closing trofeo of the Mallorca Challenge, the Trofeo Magaluf-Palmanova. To cut a long story short: five of the riders went on the attack and were in the leading group at different times of the race. The Izagirre brothers, Isasi, Castroviejo and Landa all attacked the peloton and stayed clear of the pack for a while, but in the end it was to no avail as Team Movistar was intent on setting it up for a sprint and reeled in all attempts. Eventually it came down to a sprint in which Murilo Fischer prevailed. Rubén Pérez, not yet at the peak of his powers, grabbed 15th, while Gorka Izagirre was 20th. Txurruka was 22nd and Velasco 25th, both at five seconds, while the other Izagirre, Landa, Minguez and Castroviejo came in seven adrift. Urtasun ended up 1:15 down and Isasi 3:13. Thanks to his strong effort in the break, Castroviejo won the 'Special sprints'-jersey.

After animating the race the previous four days, the Orbea youngsters took a back seat to proceedings today. None of the riders managed to join a breakaway group, and none stayed with the favourites over the many climbs. The closest one to doing so was the mightily impressive Peio Bilbao who lead home Txurruka and Velasco's group at five seconds to take 21st. Etxebarria and Bizkarra rolled in with Isasi and co. at 3:13, Aberasturi was a further nine seconds down, while the remaining six riders, Martin, Zabalo, Garcia, Sáez, Cabedo and Bagües, all found the going too tough and retired.