Márton Dina signs the first ‘top-10’ of the season in a day where Diego Pablo Sevilla also stands out
XXIX Challenge de Mallorca
Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana (Sóller-Deià), 160,5 km
Great Friday for the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team on the Majorcan roads. In a second very demanding day through the always difficult Sierra de Tramuntana, with final victory in solitary for the German Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), the Hungarian Márton Dina finished tenth and the Madrid Diego Pablo Sevilla, member of the great breakaway of the day, climbed to the podium as the winner of the classification of the flying goals.
Sevilla, taking over from his teammate Riccardo Verza in the first trophy of the Challenge of Mallorca, was responsible for giving presence in the good escape to the continental structure of the Foundation. The Madrid native, very attentive, was finally one of the seven riders who stood out at the front. Two old acquaintances of the Foundation, the former member of the U23 team Joan Bou (Fundación Euskadi) and Isaac Cantón (Burgos-BH), were also present in a movement that was completed by the British Rober Scott (Canyon), the Colombian Juan Fernando Calle (Caja Rural), the Swiss Damian Lüscher (Swiss Racing Academy) and the powerful German Nils Politt (Israel Start-Up Nation).
“In the first two kilometres there were a few attacks,” explains Sevilla. “There was a moment when several teams appeared in the front zone and it looked like a cut that had formed was going to be the good one. At that moment, Isaac Cantón started. We both came from a previous attempt and I stayed in that area waiting to see what would happen. Isaac attacked, I went with him and we managed to catch the front guys at the top of the first mountain pass. From then on, it was all about opening up a gap”. The San Martin de la Vega man would go up to the podium as the winner of the Metas Volantes clasification after crossing in first position the one located in the town of Lloseta.
The race situation, with a main peloton that never let the differences get out of control, never more than three and a half minutes, varied in the chain of the Coll de Femenies and the Puig Major. In the first ascent, Seville ended up giving way and the vanguard of the race mutated substantially with a lot of prominence in the route to the roof of the island for Alejandro Valverde and Marc Soler (Movistar) or Buchmann himself. It was the moment when Márton Dina entered the scene, going from less to more, very protected by his companions throughout the competition and crowning Puig Major in a second group very few seconds away from the head of the race at that moment. On the way down, the neutralisation would take place, although by then Buchmann had taken a few seconds which he propped up and consolidated until the finish line.
“The first part of the stage had been a bit stressful, but also the return to racing was a feeling that was unknown until now this season. I had a lot of fun all day long. When the most demanding climb began I tried to be very calm at all times and to ride as far ahead as possible, saving as much energy as I could. My teammates were amazing, they did a really good job. A group was formed with Valverde, Buchmann and other riders; I rode in a second group, not far away, and we were able to catch the descent. Even then Buchmann was not in that main group. And when it came to the sprint, I gave it my all,” explains Márton Dina about his first day of racing.
The Sierra de Tramuntana Trophy was the competition debut for the Andalusian Sergio García. The rider from Alcalá del Valle showed after the race his great joy for the experience: “I have no words for what I have lived today. It started very quickly. From the very beginning, they have been controlling the Movistar and the Bora. Once the last part of the ports started, everything began to break down. For my part, I started very well positioned, behind the Bora and the Movistar, and already on the ascent to Puig Majorr I started to fall apart due to cramps. But I am very happy with the sensations. We were waiting for Márton all day and at the end he could get a meritorious ninth place”.
The hard work continues in the itineraries proposed for this edition of the Challenge of Mallorca with a view to this Saturday. The final in the slope of Port d’Andratx will be the epilogue of a demanding day that in its 168,9 kilometres will cover again the Tramuntana Mountains. In fact both the Coll de Femenias and the Coll de Puig Major, fundamental in the development of the day this Friday, will appear again in the course during the first third of the race. Bleda, Sa Pedrissa and Claret will be other ascents that will harden a route that, on the part of the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team, will be faced by Diego Pablo Sevilla, Márton Dina, Sergio García, Antonio Puppio, Riccardo Verza, Giacomo Garavaglia and Alejandro Ropero.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
