Fabian Cancellera of Trek-Segafredo has won the third race of the Challenge Mallorca 2016 competition.
Race three The Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana took place on a rather hilly 143.9km course from Soller to Deia and saw a 23 man break form around the halfway stage.
Fabian Cancellera, Tour De San Luis winner Dayer Quintana of Movistar, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain), Hugh Carthy (Caja Rural), Daniel Teklehaimanot (Dimension Data) and Benat Intxausti (Sky) were in this group and they were only allowed a two minute break before Cancellera decided he would go it alone on the major climb - the Puig Major.
Cancellera took that with ease and took the final climb - the the Coll d’en Bleda.with a lead of fity seconds.
Inside the final fifteen kilometres and Cancellera was a minute clear. Although, the pack started to reduce his lead, the Trek-Segafredo rider rode away to take victory in 3.41.48, some seventeen seconds ahead of Michael Kwiatkowski of Team Sky who was second for the successive race and Lotto Soudal's Tiesj Benoot.
Britain's Hugh Carthy was fourteenth with Tao Geoghegan Hart 30th.
"I had no expectation to be in the breakaway," Cancellara is quoted as saying. "It was unclear if the break would make it. At the end, I was just trying to save as much energy as I could and followed the attacks from the group. In the last climb somehow I managed to survive, and then I felt some good feelings return."