Rotherham’s Swift in podium finish for Sky in Mallorca

The Rotherham-born racer claimed the team’s third podium finish in four races on the Mediterranean island after the Trofeo Palma finished in a group sprint.

Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) crossed the line first, taking his second win, ahead of Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) who edged Swift on a photo finish.

“The guys are reasonably happy with how it went today,” said Team Sky sports director Gabriel Rasch. “We put together a really good lead-out but it got a bit messy in the final kilometre which threw things off a bit.

“We started riding a bit with 60 kilometres to go ahead of the climb so that we could be in a good position and also avoid any problems on the descent. There were quite a few crashes again which we didn’t want any part of.

“We’ve had a consistent four races and it shows the guys are in good form.

“We can build on that now and it’s good that we came through these races without any crashes,” he said. “That’s really important as we look towards the bigger events to come.”

Rotherham’s Russell Downing (Cult Energy Pro Cycling) was seventh.

Yorkshire riders were flying the flag for Great Britain at the World Cyclo-Cross Championships in the Czech Republic over the weekend, and turned in some strong performances in the title races at Tabor.

Keighley’s national champion Ian Field was GB’s sole representative in the elite men’s race and finished 21st, four minutes behind winner Mathieu van der Poel from the Netherlands.

Brockholes-based teenager Amira Mellor finished an impressive 28th, and was the third best of five British females riding the elite women’s event.

Mellor was 4.49 behind race winner Pauline Ferrand-Prevot from France, while GB team-mates Nikki Harris and Helen Wyman were fourth and seventh respectively.

And in the junior men’s race on Saturday, Alfie Moses from Keighley was 35th.

In the Under-23s, 21-year-old Jack Clarkson from Greetland was Great Britain’s best finisher, crossing the line 30th, 4.13 behind the winner.

In road racing, there was a clean sweep of the podium by the Achieve Northside Skinnergate team in the fourth round of the Velo29 Winter Series at the Croft racing circuit in North Yorkshire.

Whitby’s 22-year-old Will Brown took second, while team-mates Ben Hetherington, from Sedgfield and Jack Rees, from Stockton, were first and third respectively.