"The only one who could follow Tadej Pogacar " - UAE Team Emirates see new superstar in Portuguese talent António Morgado
Cycling
UAE Team Emirates had a superb winter in the transfer market. Tour de l'Avenir winner Isaac del Toro, Pavel Sivakov and Nils Politt were among the signings; but perhaps above them all in terms of expectations in the team is António Morgado, as reported by members of the Emirati team.
"I have dreamed all my life of becoming a classification rider and shining in the Tour. I'm a bit heavy, I weigh 70.5 kilograms. We have time to work on that," Morgado tells in an interview with Sporza. In his neo-pro season, the 19-year old has already made his debut with the team at the Tour Down Under, and will be testing himself throughout the year in a variety of races - and possibly goals as well, depending on his performance.
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The Belgian news outlet gathered insight from the team into Morgado's first impressions riding with the team, and they are nothing but promising. "Morgado is a special rider who underestimates himself very much. He doesn't know how strong he is," his teammate Tim Wellens says.
Recently the team were in Spain in a training camp ahead of the 2024 season, and Wellens shares an interesting detail on one of the rider: "That young guy was the only one who could follow Tadej Pogacar when the training continued after 6 hours of training at an average of 40 km/h." Needless to say, this sort of declaration leaves an impression with the team, that want to develop him into a new leader. Morgado was second at the Junior World Championships two years ago, and second again last year but in the under-23 category.
However, the biggest words on Morgado are from team manager Joxean Matxin, who tells that he takes care of the Portuguese in a way that not even Tadej Pogacar had the privilege in his younger years. "Morgado is timid and doesn't talk much. But when he gets on a bike, he is a different person and he becomes a killer. I don't think he will become a star, I'm sure." he adds. "Morgado is good, very good. I have no doubt that he will win prizes in his first professional year. He will already be the big revelation of the international peloton this year."
"Antonio can do well uphill, but he is not a pure climber of 50 kilograms. Antonio is someone who needs confidence and warmth. That's why I care about him and take him under my wings. I've never done that, not even with Pogacar or Ayuso. He can call me at any time of the day, even at 2 a.m., although my wife may not like that."
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024