Pogacar-esque! António Morgado solos to stunning victory at Figueira Champions Classic 2025
Cycling
The third edition of the Figueira Champions Classic in Portugal has ended in a stunning solo win for home rider, UAE Team Emirates - XRG's António Morgado, much to the delight of the crowd in attendance, adding a second victory to his palmares already in 2025.
Nine riders had gone clear in an early breakaway move, but as the real fighting began heading into the final 50km or so, the peloton held the front of the race. On the second ascent of the Rua Parque Florestal, big name riders such as Julian Alaphilippe and Filippo Ganna launched moves off the front of the bunch, thinning out the lead group in the process. In fact, the attack of the latter proved a very big move, with the INEOS Grenadiers powerhouse managing to gain a 30 second advantage over the peloton by the time he reached the 30km to go marker. As Ganna began the final ascent of the Rua Parque Florestal, his lead was still dangling around the 25 second mark.
At 21km to go though, a counter-attack from Antonio Morgado caught and passed Ganna, with the Portuguese star of UAE Team Emirates - XRG clearly looking to impress on his home roads. Despite a counter from Mikkel Honore and Jon Agirre leading the chase behind, Morgado was looking incredibly strong out front, entering the final 10km with a lead of around 35 seconds. The chase wasn't all that cohesive behind either, with the main chase group struggling to even catch Honore and Agirre, before finally doing so inside the final 5km. As the flamme rouge neared though, Morgado began to look a little tired and the gap started to close. In the end though, there was no catching the runaway Portuguese as Morgado took victory ahead of Paul Magnier and Mathias Vacek.
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- TP, for me now, is an alien...
leedorney07-04-2025 - You have to keep all else held equal or you're not isolating the change. A lighter rider is faster at everything, save downhills, all else held equal, as I keep showing. As for wind, just as in flat TTs weight basically doesn't matter, except that lighter equals slightly less rolling resistance. In the same manner, for a 30 kph headwind, weight doesn't matter, as the relevant equation is power vs CdA. The reason why more weight is helpful downhill is the same reason it's hurtful uphill, it "gives back" the energy (not speed) you gained by going up the hill. Lastly, in a sprint, weight is again counterproductive, assuming one has to accelerate up to speed. Accelerating a mass takes energy, and a heavier one takes more energy than a lighter one. Now, at most sprint speeds, almost all energy goes into wind resistance, but the acceleration of mass still does play a part.acem8207-04-2025
- Agreed. He was dropped hard on every other climb. Without the run up he might have not been in the final sprint. And why not try it? Kudos for him for trying to make the race rather than just following.mij06-04-2025
- To me it seemed like an attempt to get through the climb closer to the front, since his burst power was lacking. If he starts earlier he can take the hill slower and still not be too far behind by the top. It kept him in that group of 4, where he might have been dropped had they all stayed together to the bottom of the climb. Who knows, though. I’m just guessing.RidesHills06-04-2025
- No idea, there have been suggestions something is amiss, maybe he doesn’t have all his mind connected at some moments, I’d definitely do a thorough review of his consciousness under effort.Mistermaumau06-04-2025
- Pogacar and van der Poel have won the last 6 Monuments, and 11 of the last 13 Monuments. There’s never been domination like this by two riders, and we are in our third year of it. (Merckx and de Vlaeminck won a total of 30 Monuments between 1966 and 1979, but others were winning along the way, as well.)RidesHills06-04-2025
- Yes but what was the dumb effort by Van Aert to drop Pogacar, Vanderpoel and Pederson about.? Just showing face? If he had stayed on the wheels and not wasted energy, he might have got on the podium in the runners up sprint.Cyclingsbestfan06-04-2025
- What a loser.
santiagobenites06-04-2025 - I agree about the sprint or drilling it on the flat. Lighter rider versus heavier rider. Inertia is the natural tendency of objects in motion to stay in motion (e.g the heavier riders momentum) and objects at rest to stay at rest, unless a force causes the velocity to change.Cyclingsbestfan06-04-2025
- Definitely, he is a great rider, and this season might even be as good as last (in a perfect world, a few more Monuments, a Tour-Vuelta double, and the Worlds again), but he has to do this for years on end to compare to Merckx’s results from roughly 69 to 74. Yes, times have changed, yes competition is different, yes speeds are higher, and so on, but let’s let Pogacar be Pogacar and give him time. We can evaluate his career when he retires. Until then, let’s enjoy it while we have it.RidesHills06-04-2025