Vuelta a Mallorca

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Vuelta a Mallorca
Race details
Date	Early February
Region	Mallorca, Spain
English name	Tour of Mallorca
Local name(s)	Volta a Mallorca (Catalan) Vuelta a Mallorca (Spanish)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI Europe Tour
Type	5 single-day races
History
First edition	1992
Editions	17 (as of 2008)
First winner	Javier Murguialday
Most wins	Francisco Cabello (3 wins)
Most recent	Philippe Gilbert

The Challenge Vuelta Ciclista a Mallorca (English: Tour of Mallorca, Catalan: Challenge Volta Ciclista a Mallorca) is a series of five professional one day road bicycle races held on the Spanish island of Mallorca in early February. The event is used as an early season preparatory event by many of the top teams in readiness for the bigger races later in the season. The five races are ranked 1.1 on the UCI Europe Tour.

Although the race styles itself as the “Tour of Mallorca” it has never been allowed to be classed as a multi day stage race by the sports governing body the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) because the race rules allows riders not to participate on certain days if they don’t want to. However there is an unofficial overall classification winner taken on total time over five days. This laid back attitude by the race organisers makes the race popular with team managers who can bring a large squad (sometimes as many as 20 riders) and interchange them over the five days. Apart from the overall classification on time there are the usual Mountains, Points and Sprints competitions associated with any stage race. There is also a competition for the top Mallorcan based rider, in the past this has been won by Vicente Reynès, Antonio Colóm and Antonio Tauler.

The first day of racing is the Trofeo Mallorca which is a criterium (circuit race) around the streets of Palma de Mallorca. The second day is the Trofeo Cala Millor, sometimes called the Trofeo Alcúdia. These two opening days are run over a fairly flat course and result in a sprint finish. The Trofeo Pollença (day three) and Trofeo Sóller (day four) are contested over a more hilly course using the climbs of the Col de Sóller (501 metres) and the Col de Puig Major (850 metres) amongst others on the route. These two hilly days usually decide the outcome of the unofficial overall classification over the five days. The final days racing is the Trofeo Calvià which takes place on an undulating course over a series of small climbs.

Top class riders such as Laurent Jalabert, Alex Zulle and Alejandro Valverde have won the overall classification at the Vuelta a Mallorca, however Spanish rider Francesco Cabello who rode for the Kelme team throughout his career, holds the record for the most victories, taking three overall victories in Mallorca in 1996, 2000 and 2002. In 2004 Colóm became the first rider who was a native of the island of Mallorca to take the overall classification.

The Vuelta a Mallorca receives heavy sponsorship from Tourism section of the local Mallorcan government (Govern de la Illes Balears). The race was first held in 1992 and for the first three years was just open to Spanish teams, however in 1995 foreign squads were invited for the first time with teams such as Telekom and TVM attending. In 1998 Léon van Bon of the Dutch Rabobank squad became the first overall winner riding for a non Spanish team.

[edit] Winner of the "Unofficial" General Classification

Year	Winner	Nationality	Team
2008	Philippe Gilbert	Belgium	Française des Jeux
2007	Luis León Sánchez	Spain	Caisse d'Epargne
2006	David Bernabeu	Spain	Comunidad Valenciana
2005	Alejandro Valverde	Spain	Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne
2004	Antonio Colóm	Spain	Illes Balears-Banesto
2003	Alejandro Valverde	Spain	Kelme-Costa Blanca
2002	Francisco Cabello	Spain	Kelme-Costa Blanca
2001	Mathew Hayman	Australia	Rabobank
2000	Francisco Cabello	Spain	Kelme-Costa Blanca
1999	José Luis Rebollo	Spain	ONCE
1998	Léon van Bon	Netherlands	Rabobank
1997	Laurent Jalabert	France	ONCE
1996	Francisco Cabello	Spain	Kelme
1995	Alex Zulle	Switzerland	ONCE
1994	David García	Spain	Banesto
1993	Laurent Jalabert	France	ONCE
1992	Javier Murguialday	Spain	Lotus-Festina