Crazy situation in Mallorca: Spanish top talent Arrieta falls, fellow gem Sanchez wins and Van Eetvelt only just misses out

Day four of the Mallorca Challenge, featuring the toughest of the five days. This time around, the riders faced five categorized climbs, including the well-known Puig Major. Six guys were not deterred by this menu and chose to attack today: Idar Andersen (Uno-X), Jonas Gregaard (Lotto-Dstny), Dylan Vandenstorme (SportVlaanderen-Baloise), Cole Kessler (Lidl-Trek training team), Hugo Scala Jr. (Project Echelon) and Sebastian Niehues (REMBE).

In the peloton, BORA-hansgrohe - the only WorldTour team that was on training camp in Mallorca in early January - picked up the gauntlet, working for team leader Aleksandr Vlasov. UAE-Team Emirates also contributed, leading to a series of breakaways on the Coll de sa Pedrissa. Van Eetvelt, Friday's winner in the Challenge Mallorca, ended up in a select group of riders between the remnants of the breakaway, Andersen and Gregaard, and the peloton.

With forty kilometers to go, the group, which included Simon Carr (EF), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) and Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step), caught up with the leading duo. At that moment, the Spanish top talent Arrieta (UAE) tried to take advantage of a moment of hesitation by going solo. Meanwhile, in the peloton behind, Alex Aranburu crashed hard, a rider who had finished in the top five in both of his races this year. The Basque rider left the race in visible pain. Shortly after, Michael Valgren and Markel Beloki of EF also hit the ground, though less severely.

Meanwhile, Arrieta gained a half-minute lead but had to work hard for it. Riders like Cattaneo, Aleksandr Vlasov and Ion Izagirre were putting in efforts in the background, but the American Brandon McNulty played a defensive role in support of Arrieta. This allowed Arrieta to begin ascending the Coll de sa Gramola (3.8 km at 4.2%), the last obstacle of the day fifteen kilometers from the finish, with a 35-second advantage.

There, Van Eetvelt once again impressively broke away from the peloton, chasing down Arrieta. He then left Arrieta behind, while in the background, a group including Vlasov, McNulty and Ilan Van Wilder formed. They reached the top about fifteen seconds behind the young Belgian, with Arrieta managing to rejoin on the descent. However, five kilometers from the finish, the Spaniard crashed, leaving the Belgian alone in front again. It was a crazy situation, no other way to describe it.

The group behind the Belgian could still see Van Eetvelt's red jersey, so the victory was far from secured in the remaining kilometers. Under the one-kilometer-to-go banner, he was caught, and then it was Marc Soler's turn to make his move. He too was caught, leading to a sprint of about ten riders. In that sprint, Sanchez emerged as the best, ahead of Tudor's Marius Mayrhofer.