The Women’s Challenge Mallorca is an early-season trio of races with an interesting set-up. Rather than being a stage race, they are three separate one-day races that are linked together. There’s no general classification to worry about and teams can enter a squad of riders who can rotate across the individual races. With many riders on training camps in Spain at this time of year, it makes sense to host the first European racing not too far away. Relatively warm whilst northern Europe sees freezing temperatures, it’s a chance to open up the legs and see how riders are faring after winter training
A mix of terrains see something for everyone, with sprinters in action on the opening Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx race, and the climbers or puncheurs in action for the following pair of stages. With it being the early season, we may see some surprising results with some riders already in a bit of form whereas others will be targeting races much later on in the season like the Ardennes Classic.
Last year was the first time we got a Women’s version of the races, which have been part of the men’s calendar for at least a decade at this point. It was EF Education-Cannondale (not Oatly at that point!) who dominated, with Swiss rider Noemi Rüegg and Magdeleine Vallieres Mill taking victories, for the latter it was her first pro win as well in an impressive solo move. UAE Team ADQ’s Eleonora Gasparrini won the final day of racing, sprinting the fastest and just edging out Rüegg from taking another win.
Previous Winners
2024
Noemi Rüegg | Magdeleine Vallieres Mill | Eleonora Gasparrini
2023
Not held
2022
Not held
Women’s Challenge Mallorca 2025 Race Profiles
Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx
Trofeo Palma Femina
Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx
Live TV Coverage
Saturday 25th January – Monday 27th January 2025
Live on Discovery+/Eurosport/Max
RTVE in Spain (VPN required)
Race 1: 14:00-15:30
Race 2: 12:00-13:30
Race 3: 14:00-15:30
All times in GMT
Twitter: #ChallengeMallorcaFemenina
Startlist: #1 FirstCycling | #2 FirstCycling | #3 FirstCycling
Women’s Challenge Mallorca 2025 Contenders
Canyon SRAM zondacrypto will try and get themselves in the mix on all 3 days and there’s a great chance for Chiara Consonni to get off the mark for her new team. Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx feels like the main chance for that to happen with the finish on the final day potentially proving to be too tough. Soraya Paladin will be there to try and notch up a first win since the Giro delle Marche in Rosa in 2019. She’s more of the fast finisher after a series of climbs rider type and that will come in handy here. With the team’s other stars either in Australia or looking at other races, someone like Anastasiya Kolesava might also be one to watch at this point of the season. She’s made the jump from the Generation development team and could be looking to announce her arrival on the rolling terrain she is suited to.
We saw EF Education-Oatly get off to a fast start last year and they’ve done the same already in 2025 by winning the Tour Down Under with Noemi Rüegg. There’s a lot to suggest the team will be going hard for these races too given their potential line-ups. Cedrine Kerbaol has won races on the parcours like the Trofeo Palma Femina and Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx. She can attack, brave the descents and never be caught, similar to how Magdeleine Vallieres Mill won here last season. The Canadian also returns and wouldn’t mind another roll of the dice either. Letizia Borghesi should be in some form already, she’s been racing some cyclocross and that bodes well for being fast in January. She’s got a fast finish too and could be successful in any of the races. Also available will be Alison Jackson who might get an early-season sprint nod or be up for a breakaway to get the effort in the legs. Lotta Henttala is one of the better pure sprinters racing here across the teams but she will probably only get one opportunity. Nina Berton may be the surprise package this year if she’s given room to attack for her new team, she’s made the leap across with Kerbaol to the team in pink.
Movistar on home roads will see the return to racing of Marlen Reusser after a well-documented lengthy lay-off. At 100%, she’d be fully in the hunt for a win across any of these stages with the right timed attack but for now, we’ll see where she is in terms of form after so long without a number on her back. We should see the Ruiz Perez sisters sprint on the opening race – Laura Ruiz Perez was 9th here last season and Lucia Ruiz Perez was not too far behind either. Their ongoing development will be worth keeping an eye on over the course of this season. When the road goes up, the focus will be on the likes of Claire Steels, whose 2024 season turned out to be tougher than planned after fracturing vertebrae in the UAE Tour Women in February 2024. If she can stay out of trouble then we can see her back to the pointy end of races again. In contrast, Mareille Meijering had a career year last year. She was quiet in the Challenge Mallorca races but they helped set her up for some early-season success in other Spanish races. The climbs here suit her ability to attack and ghost away.
Another team with a wealth of options is UAE Team ADQ and there will be opportunities for riders. The big 3 should be Eleonora Gasparrini, who was a winner here already last year, Silvia Persico and Sofie van Rooijen. Gasparrini could be a threat in the opening and closing races, with Persico a threat across the whole trio. Sofie van Rooijen will get a first chance to win for her new team on the opening day after a successful 2024 season saw her make the move into the Women’s WorldTour. Behind them, all sorts of riders could do well if they’ve already got racing legs. For sprints, there’s Lara Gillespie, Eilidh Shaw and Tereza Neumanova. Irish rider Gillespie took 4 wins last season and could get herself a chance here as well. Eilidh Shaw is a development rider who started to notch results on the continent whilst racing for the much smaller Alba Development Team in 2024. Tereza Neumanova is always someone who can do well in a sprint when she gets a chance, Chongming Island and Burgos are some of the WWT top-10s she earned last year. The young Italian Federica Venturelli had a strong first year in the pros in 2024 and looks set to build on that further this season, with this an early chance. Fee Knaven might also fancy going on the attack here. She’s mainly got her best results in the time trial but the option is there to develop further.
Human Powered Health will be looking for some early results as they look for UCI points. They can sprint here with Daria Pikulik and new signing Maggie Coles-Lyster. Pikulik started last season well with a win and the hope will be there for a repeat from the Pole. That may mean we see Coles-Lyster in lead-out duties during Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx but she’s more than capable of stepping up if required as well. Once the road goes upwards, there will be other options. One of the stars of last season, Thalita de Jong, will be repping Human Powered Health colours for the first time. She will be one of the stronger all-round options, particularly if she comes here at full fitness already. Giada Borghesi was starting to impress last season and earned herself a move to the WWT halfway through it. She potentially can work well with De Jong. Not much is known as to how new-signing Mona Mitterwallner will fare on the road to begin with. She’s certainly strong but where she fits into the peloton can’t be known just yet. Like Kim Le Court last season, she is worth keeping an eye on.
Uno-X Mobility were certainly happy with their Tour Down Under podium and will be hopefully of similar success in Spain here too. Anniina Ahtosalo will get a couple of opportunities and the Finn will be hoping to visit the top step of the podium more in 2025 after a nicely consistent 2024 season. There’s support from the likes of Susanne Andersen who’s on the comeback trail, Maria Giulia Confalonieri who is always a good threat on a rolling stage ending in a sprint and new signing Linda Zanetti who got some good results early on last season and will be looking for more. When it comes to the climbs, Katrine Aalerud will want to test her legs and Solbjørk Minke Anderson is another option the team has too. They’re in full UCI points hunting mode and will want to maximise any and every opportunity to earn them.
Another team in points mode is Ceratizit-WNT and they will hope that Mylene de Zoete can pick up points for them in the sprints. She impressed at Chongming Island at the end of 2024 with 2nd in GC and a stage win along the way. New signings Fariba Hashimi and Celia le Mouel will probably be more likely to contest the other stages with the Afghan potentially getting the leadership nod after some seriously good results in 2024. Both do well on the sorts of climbs here, it’s just whether they can put everything together to contest against the bigger names.
Nadia Quagliotto moved to Cofidis this off-season and will be looking to repeat the podium place she scored in last year’s version of Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx. She’s one of those good one-day race finishers, not a pure sprinter but does have a turn of pace when required. Amalie Dideriksen is also on the team and could get the sprint shout on the opening race or perform the lead-out duties she was often doing at Uno-X before joining Cofidis. Julie Bego will be in the mix again after impressing many with her first pro year in 2024. The French rider should suit the climbs nicely and get herself into any small groups that go clear. The climbs probably aren’t going to be tough enough for Clara Koppenburg at this time of year but it should help get some racing in her legs for other goals. Nikola Noskova can also do well on the climbs in the Trofeo Palma Femina and make herself a top-10 threat too.
Women’s Challenge Mallorca 2025 Outsiders
Arkea-B&B Hotels should be able to contest all 3 races with some of their riders. They’ve got Valentina Cavallar who is a pure climber that can challenge on the Trofeo Palma Femina race and then some good options for the other more rolling stages. Michaela Drummond had her most successful season yet in 2024 by taking 4 wins and will be a threat if she can get into a small group at the finish. For bigger sprints, new signing Majo van’t Geloof will be the team’s main threat. She’s been a consistent top-10 one-day race results-getter for the last few years and can sneak the odd win in there too.
Rasa Leleivyte has always been a strong puncheur rider, ideally on hockey stick-shaped parcours but she will surely be eyeing up the finish of the final race – Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx. The Lithuanian traditionally does better in the late-season races rather than this early mind. Nicole Steinmetz is a new signing for Eneicat-CM and will be a rider to keep an eye on during her first European-based season. The American was 5th on the second stage of the Tour de l’Avenir in 2024 and 3rd from a break at the Volta a Portugal as well. Lucy Lee of DAS-Hutchinson finished last season well with 4th at the Pionera Race and started to pick up more and more results across the European season as well. If she can repeat her Pionera result on similar terrain in Mallorca she could find herself in the top-10.
The young Dukla Prague duo of Barbora Nemcova and Nela Slanikova had strong 2024 seasons as well. Slanikova finished 10th in GC at the Women’s WorldTour level Tour of Chongming Island thanks to picking up some key bonus seconds. Nemcova took her best results on home roads and was beginning to make headway elsewhere too. Both are probably ones to watch out for across 2025 instead of just here. Finally, Elisa de Vallier of Top Girls Fassa Bortolo will be another rider looking to build on some good displays in 2024 and get picked up by a bigger team. She was 5th in GC at the Giro Toscana and picked up 6th in La Choralis too, along with a pair of top-20s in the Giro d’Italia Women. She should be on the radar of some teams already and just needs that one big breakthrough result.
