Vuelta a Mallorca
| Date | Early February |
|---|---|
| Region | Majorca, Spain |
| English name | Tour of Majorca |
| Local name(s) | Volta a Mallorca (Catalan) Vuelta a Mallorca (Spanish) |
| Discipline | Road |
| Competition | UCI Europe Tour |
| Type | One-day |
| First edition | 1992 |
| Editions | 23 (as of 2014) |
| First winner |
 Javier Murguialday (ESP)
|
| Most wins |
Francisco Cabello (ESP) (3 wins) |
| Most recent |
Antonio Colom (ESP) (2009, no overall winner classification since) |
The Challenge Vuelta Ciclista a Mallorca (English: Tour of Majorca, Catalan: Challenge Volta Ciclista a Mallorca) is a series of four (five until 2012) professional one day road bicycle races held on the Spanish island of Mallorca in late January or 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 Majorca" 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 Majorcan 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. 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.
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Wikipedia