Rainy Day in the Mountains at Challenge Mallorca

27 January 2017

Race: Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, Challenge Mallorca

Start/Finish: Soller / Deia, Spain

Distance: 154km

Deia, Spain — Team Novo Nordisk met with Spanish rain in the mountains of Spain’s largest Mediterranean island on Friday, racing 154km from Soller to Deia, in the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, the second of four one-day races that make up the early-season Challenge Mallorca.

Beginning on an altered course to avoid rockslides after recent heavy rains, the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana quickly splintered into small groups on the uphill start. Team Novo Nordisk’s David Lozano, Rik van IJzendoorn and Javier Megias all joined the first group over the climb.

Rain began in the third hour of racing, and in the wet, cold weather the peloton soon formed gruppettos to the finish.

Tim Wellens of Lotto-Soudal won the race solo in 4:06:42, with Team Novo Nordisk’s Van IJzendoorn, Lozano and Javier Megias further back in a group of nearly 50 riders. Another 50 riders withdrew from the race before the finish.

Sport Director Lionel Marie

“No day of bike racing is without its challenges. Today in Mallorca we had mountains from the start and rain at the finish, and we met each of those and everything else with optimism and preparation. Our training camps have provided us with a good base, and these four days of racing in Mallorca are a continuation of these positive trends.”

Reid McClure

“This was my professional debut, and on the first climb I saw my own performance averages for 1,2,5 and 10 minutes all improve by more than 10 percent. It’s one thing to perform in training, but in a race there is more pressure. I’m pretty excited to test myself again to see what more I can do.”

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team, continues racing at the Trofeo Andratx-Morador des Colomer on Saturday in day three of the Challenge Mallorca, a 159km race that begins in Andratx. The riders will tackle 14 categorized climbs along the island’s northwest coast before a mostly flat finish in Port de Pollenca.