Thalita de Jong continued her fine form at Challenge Mallorca, delivering fourth place at Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx with a late surge up the final climb.
The Dutch all-rounder followed the winning move of eight riders breaking away on the windswept rolling roads of the Serra de Tramuntana, displaying her continued fight back to form since a season-curtailing illness in 2025.
“I’m happy to be back racing, to be back with the team, and back fighting for results,” de Jong said afterwards. “Without race pace, slowly building up and seeing day by day how it will go, I think I can be pleased with these feelings, and we can still work further on this.”
With the island battered by heavy winds, the race parcours was cut to 75.5 km, making the passage over the climbs all the more important. Having keenly anticipated the winning move inside the final 30 km, the 32-year-old bided her time before matching much of the early pace on the 2.3 km at 8.8% finishing ramp.
“I started on the front to dictate my own pace,” explains de Jong. “I had some strong riders with me who are more explosive than I am on the climb, so I knew it would be hard to beat them.
I chose to take my own pace at the start of the climb, as I did not want to be in last position, because then I know when they drop speed, they are even more explosive and faster than me.”
A trio soon gradually pulled away to fight for the podium positions, but de Jong did not crack. In a similar style to which had delivered her a victory in the same race a year prior, de Jong raced at her own pace to distance the others and almost remake contact with the front.
“I knew Karlijn was very strong, also Lippert and Mie, but it was just too steep for me to push harder,” she said. “I did not want to blow my legs up immediately. I came close, but then of course the finish line was coming closer, so they started earlier than me.”
Podium or not, this performance was another great sign of de Jong’s resilience in the face of adversity as she continues on the comeback trail.
“This gives me a lot of confidence, because we knew up front that I would not be 100% race ready yet, so these three days of racing are encouraging. I will take care now with the recovery and grow a bit further race by race.”
Behind, Marta Jaskulska had a strong ride, finishing 19th, with Yurani Blanco one behind and taking the prize for top Mallorcan finisher.
Human Powered Health next race at the Surf Coast Classic in Australia on January 28.
Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx results
1 SWINKELS Karlijn – UAE Team ADQ 2:01:56
2 LIPPERT Liane – Movistar Team ”
3 OTTESTAD Mie Bjørndahl – Uno-X Mobility ”
4 DE JONG Thalita – Human Powered Health 0:15
5 SILVESTRI Debora – Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi 0:24
6 GASPARRINI Eleonora Camilla – UAE Team ADQ 0:30
7 HENDERSON Anna – Lidl – Trek 1:02
8 SQUIBAN Maeva – UAE Team ADQ 1:26
9 FISHER-BLACK Niamh – Lidl – Trek ”
10 HAUGSET Sigrid Ytterhus – Uno-X Mobility 1:46
Photos: GettySport
