Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) continued his rise towards the stars when the young Pole to a fabulous solo win in the first mountainous race in the Challenge Mallorca, Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana. Having attacked with Sergio Henao (Sky) on the day's major climb, Col du Puig Major, he bridged across to the early break before leaving everyone else behind 6km from the finish.

In 2013 Michal Kwiatkowski had a breakthrough season with several top 10 results in the Ardennes classics and a very strong showing in the Tour de France. Today the young Pole underlined that much more is in store from in 2014 when he won the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana on his own.

In the first mountainous race of the four-day race series Challenge Mallorca, Kwiatkowski launched an attack on the day's major climb, the category 1 Col de Puig Major whose top was located only 20km from the finish. He bridged across to Sergio Henao (Sky) who had attacked just a few moments earlier and the duo collaborated well to catch the remnants of the day's early break after the top of the climb.

The created a front septet but Kwiatkowski quickly sensed that his companions had run out of steam after a long day on the attack. On a small climb with 6km to go, he launched an attack that nobody could respond to.

While his chasers were caught by the remnants of the peloton which was speeding up in the hope of a small group sprint, Kwiatkowski tucked into his time trial position. Being an excellent rouleur, he managed to hold off the concerted chase of the peloton and when he crossed the line on the uphill finishing straight, he still had a solid gap over his chasers.

27 seconds later Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) proved that he is ready for the classics when he held off Francesco Gavazzi (Astana) in the sprint for the minor 2nd while Omega Pharma-Quick Step enjoyed a splendid day as Gianluca Brambilla, Pieter Serry and Petr Vakoc finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively to make it four riders from the Belgian team in the top 10.

The win was the third in as many days for Omega Pharma-Quick Step after Niki Terpstra's and Tom Boonen's victories in the first two stages of the Tour of Qatar.

The team will get another chance to add to its tally tomorrow in the final race of the series, Trofeo Platja de Muro. Several climbs are in store at the midpoint of the race but it ends with a long downhill run to the finish and a sprint from a reduced peloton is the most likely outcome.

A hilly course

The 152.9km Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana was the hardest race in the Challenge Mallorca as it sent the riders up 5 categorized climbs. During the first 15km, the riders had to climb a category 2 and a category 3 ascent before a flatter section that only contained a single category 3 climb. Things heated up at the end with the category 2 Col de Soller and the category 1 Col de Puig Major which preceded the final 19km that consisted of a fast descent  and some rolling terrain.

As the road pointed upwards right from the beginning, the race was off to a fierce start with a brutal pace and several attacks on the category 2 Col de San Costa. Several riders fell off the pace right from the beginning but no one managed to get a gap over the main group.

De Gendt first at the top

The first rider to crest the summit was Thomas De Gendt (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) who beat Jose Serpa (Lampre), Frederik Willems (Lotto Belisol), Dario Hernandez (Burgos), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) and Pablo Torres (Burgos). The pace was kept fast on the short decent that led directly to the bottom of the category 3 Col den Claret.

Willems launched an attack with Andrey Zeits (Astana) while De Gendt, Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre), Caleb Fairly (Garmin), Maxim Belkov (Katusha), Tony Hurel, Angelo Tulik (both Europcar), Adrien Petit (Cofidis), Antonio Piedra (Caja Rural), Ignatas Konovalovas (MTN), Sergio Barbero (Euskadi), Jon Larrinaga (Euskadi) and Hernandez set off in pursuit. Belkov and Tulik separated themselves from this big chase group and managed to bridge across to the leaders.

A trio is formed

Just before the top, Tulik was dropped and like the rest of the chasers, he was picked up by the peloton before Zeits, Willems and Belkov could crest the summit. Antonio Molina (Caja Rural) led the peloton across the line.

After 29km of hard racing, the front trio was caught as the peloton had still not slowed down and the aggressive racing continued. However, Belkov was in no mood to slow down and when the next move was formed, he was again part of the action.

The day's break sets off

The Russian joined Petr Vakoc (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Piedra, Tanel Kangert (Astana), and Javier Megias (Novo Nordisk) in a 5-rider group while Jesus Del Pino (Burgos) set off in lone pursuit. Finally, the peloton slowed down, allowing them to build up a gap.

Despite losing time on several occasions, Del Pino refused to give up and after 48km, he finally made the junction. At that time, the gap was already 5.10 and it grew to a maximum of 9 minutes by the time when Belkov beat Kangert and Piedra at the special sprint after 60km.

Sky start to chase

While Kangert beat Megias, Del Pino and Belkov at the top of the next category 3 climb, Sky decided that it was time to initiate a chase. The British team assembled on the front and started to bring down the gap.

Piedra beat Del Pino and Kangert in the intermediate sprint at the 84km mark and he was again ahead of Belkov and Del Pino at the next one 16km later. At that time,  the gap was still 7.45 as Sky was only slowly bringing the break back.

At the bottom of the Col de Soller, they were still 6.48 ahead  and when Del Pino beat Kangert, Piedra, Belkov, Vakoc and Megias at the top, they still had 6 minutes in hand. However, the peloton had now upped the pace and when Belkov beat Vakoc and Piedra in the special sprint at the bottom of the Puig Major, the gap was down to 4.30.

Henao and Wellens start the action

Mejias and Piedra emerged as the strongest climbers as they dropped their companions while Belkov fell completely off the pace. Meanwhile, the attacks started from the peloton, with Tim Wellens (Lotto Belisol) and Henao opening the action.

Wellens fell off the pace and was swallowed up by the peloton while instead Kwiatkowski launched what would be the decisive move. He joined Henao and the duo quickly passed Belkov as they started to close the gap to Megias and Piedra.

Henao and Kwiatkowski get closer

At the top, Mejias was first across the line, followed by Piedra, Del Pino, Vakoc, Kangert, Henao, Kwiatkowski and Belkov while Chris Horner (Lampre) led the peloton across the line. At that point, the chasers were 27 seconds behind the leaders while Henao and Kwiatkowski were at 1.10 and the peloton at 1.40.

Belkov was caught by the bunch while the two front group merged again 11km from the finish. 3km further down the road, Henao and Kwiatkowski also made the junction to make it a 7-rider break.

Kwiatkowski off on his own

With the peloton in full pursuit, Kwiatkowski could not allow himself to wait any longer and with 6km to go, he went off on his own. The peloton had no trouble catching the remnants of the break but the Pole proved to be a much harder task.

With 2km to go, he was still 28 seconds ahead and despite the hard chase, the group failed to get any closer. Kwiatkowski took a beautiful solo win and so Boasson Hagen's sprint win was only good enough for 2nd.