February 12, 2014 (Mallorca, Spain) – Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Michal Kwiatkowski started his season off strong in Mallorca, winning Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana solo after just three days of racing in his legs.

The stage, which featured brutal climbing including Category 1 Puig Major approaching the final, was one OPQS dominated. Young OPQS rider Petr Vakoc started the day in a breakaway that stayed away for much of the stage. Kwiatkowski attacked, catching one other rider trying to bridge and the duo caught the group with Vakoc in the final kilometers. Kwiatkowski then went on solo, having as much as a 28″ advantage with just two kilometers remaining. He hardly lost ground going into the final for his victory. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) finished 2nd, 27″ back from Kwiatkowski. Francesco Gavazzi (Astana Pro Team) was 3rd.

“I am really happy because my victory repaid the hard efforts of the teams in the first two races,” Kwiatkowski said. “We didn’t win, but we were always in the front and fighting. Today we didn’t really control the race but we stayed the entire day at the front. Immediately after the start Vakoc went into the breakaway. The first two hours of racing were hard. But, Petr stayed in the first group and at that point we could take it easy behind. Then before Puig Major, Team Sky pulled to try and catch the breakaway. We stayed in the front with basically the whole team.

When we started Puig Major we didn’t really set the pace. We stayed on the wheels of the other teams. When Sergio Henao (Team Sky) attacked alone, Serry started to pull and the rest of the team helped him. After 7 kilometers of the climb I attacked and caught Henao. We then worked really well together and caught the breakaway at 7 kilometers to go. When we caught them, Vakoc did a great job for me. He basically helped me and I was able to launch my attack at about 6 kilometers to go on the false flat at the top of the climb. Then I went full gas on the descent. I know the descent really well, so for me it was an advantage. I arrived alone and it is super nice when you can raise your arms in the sky for the win. It’s a great feeling and I am very happy about it.”

OPQS riders Gianluca Brambilla, Vakoc, and Pieter Serry also finished 4th, 5th, and 6th. This is the third straight day of victories in two different races for the team as OPQS is also dominating Tour of Qatar so far with wins for Niki Terpstra and Tom Boonen. Terpstra still leads the GC and points competition, and Guillaume Van Kiersbulck wears the White Pearl jersey for best young rider at Tour of Qatar.

OPQS now has five wins — in three disciplines — in 2014.

“This is my first race of the season and I have already a victory,” Kwiatkowski said. “I am really motivated. Everything worked well during the winter and training camps, so I am also motivated because I am healthy and happy about my job. In 2014 I was only two days at home in Poland. For the rest I was training or racing. So I am looking forward to the next races in 2014 with big morale, and when you can start with a good victory it is even better.”

Results

1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma – QuickStep 3:59:51
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky 00:27
3. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team
4. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma – QuickStep
5. Petr Vakoc (Cze) Omega Pharma – QuickStep
6. Pieter Serry (Bel) Omega Pharma – QuickStep
7. Jesus Del Pino (Esp) Burgos-BH
8. Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Caja Rural – Seguros
9. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
10. Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Team Sky
11. Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha
12. David De La Cruz (Esp) Team Netapp – Endura
13. Simon Yates (Gbr) Orica GreenEdge
14. Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Omega Pharma – QuickStep
15. Antonio Piedra (Esp) Caja Rural – Seguros
16. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol
17. Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida
18. André Cardoso (Por) Garmin Sharp
19. Mikel Landa Meana (Esp) Astana Pro Team
20. Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 00:31
21. Reto Hollenstein (Sui) IAM Cycling
22. Sebastian Henao Gomez (Col) Team Sky
23. Caleb Fairly (USA) Garmin Sharp
24. David Lopez Garcia (Esp) Team Sky
25. Marcos Garcia (Esp) Caja Rural – Seguros
26. Egor Silin (Rus) Team Katusha
27. Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Esp) Movistar Team
28. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
29. Javier Megias (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk
30. Jonathan Fumeaux (Sui) IAM Cycling
31. Romain Zingle (Fra) Cofidis
32. Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin Sharp
33. Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha
34. Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
35. David Belda (Esp) Burgos-BH
36. Chris Horner (USA) Lampre-Merida
37. Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Belisol 00:48
38. Maxim Belkov (Rus) Team Katusha 01:16
39. José Mendes (Por) Team Netapp – Endura 01:54
40. José Herrada Lopez (Esp) Movistar Team 02:40
41. Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Team Katusha
42. Javier Moreno Bazan (Esp) Movistar Team 03:11
43. Sergio Pardilla (Esp) MTN – Qhubeka
44. Miguel Minguez (Esp) Team Euskadi
45. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma – QuickStep
46. Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team Katusha
47. Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Team Europcar 06:02
48. Adam Yates (Gbr) Orica GreenEdge
49. Amets Txurruka (Esp) Caja Rural – Seguros
50. Igor Anton (Esp) Movistar Team
51. Tiago Machado (Por) Team Netapp – Endura 06:12
52. Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 08:41
53. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Belisol 08:54
54. Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre-Merida
55. Victor Etxebarria (Esp) Team Euskadi 10:12
56. Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
57. Igor Merino (Esp) Burgos-BH
58. Michal Podlaski (Pol) Activejet Team
59. Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto Belisol
60. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
61. Christian Meier (Can) Orica GreenEdge
62. Antoine Duchesne (Can) Team Europcar
63. Benjamin King (USA) Garmin Sharp
64. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
65. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Lampre-Merida
66. Dayer Uberney Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team
67. Victor Martin (Esp) Burgos-BH
68. Patrick Schelling (Sui) IAM Cycling
69. Angelo Tulik (Fra) Team Europcar
70. Phillip Gaimon (USA) Garmin Sharp
71. Tony Hurel (Fra) Team Europcar
72. Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis
73. Ben Swift (Gbr) Team Sky
74. Erick Rowsell (Gbr) Team Netapp – Endura
75. Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Team Katusha
76. Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica GreenEdge 10:27
77. David Lozano (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk 12:37
78. Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Esp) Movistar Team
79. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 14:19
80. Ramon Domene (Esp) Caja Rural – Seguros
81. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Lampre-Merida
82. Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis
83. Linus Gerdemann (Ger) MTN – Qhubeka
84. Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Team Europcar
85. Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma – QuickStep
86. Kévin Reza (Fra) Team Europcar 16:25
87. Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Netapp – Endura 16:42
88. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Omega Pharma – QuickStep 17:41
89. Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
90. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma – QuickStep
91. Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
92. Huub Duyn (Ned) Cyclingteam De Rijke
93. Arakdiusz Owsian (Pol) Activejet Team
94. Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team
95. Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica GreenEdge
96. Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) MTN – Qhubeka
97. Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Cyclingteam De Rijke
98. Kobus Hereijgers (Ned) Cyclingteam De Rijke
99. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team
100. Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Movistar Team
101. Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) MTN – Qhubeka
102. Emanuel Piaskowy (Pol) Activejet Team
103. Jhoan Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica GreenEdge
104. Frantisek Padour (Cze) Team Netapp – Endura
105. Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Team Netapp – Endura
106. Frederik Willems (Bel) Lotto Belisol
107. Pablo Lechuga (Esp) Team Euskadi
108. Haritz Orbe (Esp) Team Euskadi
109. Thomas Löfkvist (Swe) IAM Cycling
110. Pawel Brylowski (Pol) Activejet Team
111. Natnael Berhane (Eri) Team Europcar
112. Antonio Molina (Esp) Caja Rural – Seguros
113. Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Team Katusha
114. Adrien Petit (Fra) Cofidis
115. Ronan Van Zandbeek (Ned) Cyclingteam De Rijke
116. Carlos Barbero (Esp) Team Euskadi
117. Benat Txoperena (Esp) Team Euskadi
118. Jon Larrinaga (Esp) Team Euskadi
119. Mathias Frank (Sui) IAM Cycling
120. Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida
121. John Gadret (Fra) Movistar Team
122. Bartosz Huzarski (Pol) Team Netapp – Endura
123. Peter Kennaugh (Gbr) Team Sky
124. Johann Van Zyl (RSA) MTN – Qhubeka
125. Bradley Wiggins (Gbr) Team Sky
126. Joshua Edmondson (Gbr) Team Sky
127. Pablo Torres (Esp) Burgos-BH
128. Nathan Brown (USA) Garmin Sharp
129. Vincent Jerome (Fra) Team Europcar
130. Maxime Mederel (Fra) Team Europcar
131. Mario Gonzalez (Esp) Activejet Team
132. David Muntaner (Esp) Activejet Team
133. Dario Hernandez (Esp) Burgos-BH 17:58
134. Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis 22:01
135. Edwig Cammaerts (Bel) Cofidis
136. Nicolas Lefrancois (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 23:11
137. Ike Groen (Ned) Cyclingteam De Rijke
138. Robert Retschke (Ger) Team Kuota
139. Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
140. Ibai Salas (Esp) Burgos-BH
141. Sjoerd Kouwenhoven (Ned) Cyclingteam De Rijke
142. Tomasz Mickiewicz (Pol) Activejet Team
143. Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Belisol
144. Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) MTN – Qhubeka
145. Kevin De Mesmaeker (Bel) Team Novo Nordisk