Red Bull–Remco Evenepoel lights up Mallorca with 50-kilometre solo

Trofeo Serra Tramuntana is part of the Challenge Mallorca, a block of one-day races on the Spanish island. Earlier in the week, António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) took the win in Trofeo Calvià, while Trofeo Ses Salines — a team time trial — went to Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe. For Evenepoel, it marked the first days of racing with his new team, and Friday’s Serra Tramuntana was his first proper road outing in those colours.

After a lumpy middle section, the expectation was that the race would be decided on a steady, running climb — a profile that looked tailor-made for the Belgian.

The riders set off from Selva at 12:15 for 154 kilometres in good conditions. From the gun, a strong group tried to force its way clear, with names such as Magnus Cort (Uno-X), Colby Simmons (EF Education–EasyPost), Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco AlUla) and Italian powerhouse Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar) involved.

On the Coll de Femenia (7.7km at 5.5%), a counter move came from the peloton featuring Adrià Pericas (UAE Team Emirates–XRG), Martin Tjotta (Uno-X) and Pablo Castrillo (Movistar). Behind them, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe controlled the chase and kept the advantage of the front group firmly in check.

With 55 kilometres to go, Evenepoel launched his attack on the penultimate climb of the day. Morgado initially followed, but soon had to settle. From the remnants of the earlier break, the young Pericas and the experienced Castrillo did manage to latch onto the wheel of the Red Bull leader — but not for long: Castrillo cracked just before the summit, and Pericas shortly after. And with that, Evenepoel was gone.

From there, the Belgian got low over his Specialized and quickly stretched his advantage to more than two minutes, while the racing behind shifted smoothly into a battle for second. A telling moment of the day came from Pericas: as the first rider to be dropped on the final climb, he smiled and made a “motorbike” gesture to a fellow rider — a nod to the sheer dominance up the road.

The fight for second ultimately came down to Cristian Scaroni (XDS Astana), Mathys Rondel (Tudor) and Morgado. In the sprint for the remaining podium spots, Scaroni took second ahead of Morgado and Rondel.