Thalita de Jong stormed to a blistering solo victory in Mallorca at the Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx.
Coming from behind on the final climb to Carrer Picasso, the 31-year-old leapfrogged attacker Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), taking a glance back before inflicting a devastating bid for victory.
“This was an amazing feeling,” she said afterward. “We had such a good time ride today. It felt so good to catch and then go solo, I’m so proud of myself and the team. I cannot be more happy about a solo victory at the start of the season.”
De Jong timed her chase to perfection, reeling Kerbaol in with 800 meters still to go of the 1.7km, 9.4% climb to the line. The pair stayed together until 400 meters to go where de Jong clicked up into another gear to power to her first win of 2025.
“I stayed in the wheel of Mavi [García] in the downhill because she knows the roads,” de Jong explained of her tactics. “When Kerbaol started I thought, ‘Just take your own pace. If you go too fast, you blow up, then it’s over’. I saw that I could catch her and then a few more times standing on the pedals and she had to drop and I got a nice victory.
Human Powered Health was active throughout the 107.5km race with Romy Kasper and Maggie Coles-Lyster helping to split the peloton early in high crosswinds. De Jong could then count on the combined strength of Yurani Blanco, Carlotta Cipressi, and Lily Williams in the finale, with Williams driving a high tempo up the Coll de sa Gramola.
“It was super special because we knew it would split six kilometers in and we were all there so it gave a lot of confidence,” she explains. “On the climbs I attacked and Carlotta would then attack so we were so strong. Lily came back and did a really good pace on the climb so no one could recover and that was ideal. I wanted to finish it off for the whole team because we raced so well.”
The strong team efforts shown both in Mallorca and Australia have instilled a base to grow on.
“It’s so good to see that we all trust each other and we are new girls in the team but we gelled from the start,” she said. “We believe in ourselves and will keep up this good work.”
Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx result
1 DE JONG Thalita – Human Powered Health 2:51:15
2 PERSICO Silvia – UAE Team ADQ 0:14
3 KERBAOL Cédrine – EF Education-Oatly 0:15
4 AALERUD Katrine – Uno-X Mobility 0:22
5 GARCÍA Mavi – Spain 0:34
6 SKALNIAK-SÓJKA Agnieszka – CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto 0:32
7 ZSANKÓ Petra – CERATIZIT Pro Cycling Team 0:47
8 SOTO Catalina Anais – Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi 0:55
9 MEIJERING Mareille – Movistar Team ”
10 GASPARRINI Eleonora Camilla – UAE Team ADQ 0:58
Photos: GettySport
