Evenepoel makes flying start with Red Bull in Trofeo Ses Salines TTT

All eyes were on Remco Evenepoel and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe at the Trofeo Ses Salines, but while the favourites duly claimed victory, it was a close-run thing, with a spirited Movistar coming in just four seconds down in second place.

Jayco-AlUla, who were quickest to the midway point, had to settle for third at 17 seconds, just ahead of the Stefan Küng-powered Tudor Pro Cycling.

With a team time trial on the menu on the opening day of this year’s Tour de France, Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz opted to start their seasons with a dress rehearsal of sorts on the 23.8km course in Mallorca. 

Unlike the Tour, which will be timed individually, traditional TTT rules applied here, with the time taken on the fourth rider across the line, and Evenepoel needed to pitch his effort to ensure the squad came home with the necessary quartet in place.

Although they were third best at the midpoint, Evenepoel and Red Bull mastered the headwind on the latter part of the course, and they stopped the clock four seconds inside Movistar’s time to take the win.

Unibet Rose Rockets set the early benchmark before Küng dragged Tudor around the course into first place. They didn’t have long in the hotseat before a strong Jayco-AlUla outfit surpassed them, with Michael Matthews impressing, though the Australian squad might have put slightly too much into the early headwind section.

Although Movistar lost Enric Mas before the finish, they thundered through the second half of the course with Ivan Roméo and Nelson Oliveira leading the line, setting the bar for Red Bull to overcome.

Mattia Cattaneo and Gianni Moscon were burned off approaching the final kilometres, leaving Red Bull with the minimum of four riders, but Evenepoel, Lipowitz, Nico Denz and Maxim Van Gils did enough to take the honours.

“I thought we had it, but when you’re competing against maybe the best time triallist ever, it’s never easy,” a rueful Ivan Roméo said after Movistar’s near miss. “This one hurts, but that’s cycling.”