For the third consecutive day, Team Sky ended on the podium in the Challenge Mallorca but the team leaves the four-day race series with no wins. Having seen sprinter Ben Swift being beaten into 3rd in today's Trofeo Platja de Muro, the team admits that Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) would have been hard to beat.

Team Sky secured their third consecutive podium finish in Mallorca as Ben Swift claimed third place at the Trofeo Alcudia. The Brit capped off a consistent block of racing on the island which saw the team ride hard in search of an elusive victory.

Edged at the finish by Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) and Francisco Ventoso (Movistar), Swift returned to the podium 24 hours after Edvald Boasson Hagen had placed second on Tuesday, and Swift himself had also taking second spot a day earlier.

Wind played a factor during a hectic run-in as the peloton found itself stretched to breaking point on the flat-out dash back into Alcudia, splitting into two groups of 40 before fracturing further as the speed ramped up.

The 162-kilometre test saw four categorised climbs punctuate the parcours, creating a finely-poised day of racing which suited a sprinter with good legs on the ascents. That applied to both Swift and Boasson Hagen, with the latter also coming home sixth to cap a strong showing.

"The guys stuck to the plan and did exactly what we talked about," said sports director Dan Frost after the race. "They did a good job to set up Swifty and make the race hard for the other sprinters, but a couple of those other sprinters are really good at climbing. There wasn't much we could do in the end, Quick-Step had a really strong team here and had a lot of riders there at the finish.

"You can always look at the race afterwards and say 'we should have done this or that' but it was a good plan and we rode well. We had a bit of bad luck at times with Josh (Edmondson) and Sebastian (Henao) having a few technical issues on Soller.

"Both Kiry (Vasil Kiryienka) and Brad (Wiggins) did a great job pulling on the flat part and then Eddy did his work in the sprint. Swifty was where he should be but maybe he opened a touch too early today. It's always a balancing act in the sprint but I think it was going to be tough to beat Meersman today. Well done to him."

Today's race was the final one in the four-day race series.