António Morgado holds off strong Hector Álvarez (19) and wins Trofeo Calvià
António Morgado gave himself the best possible birthday present. On the day the Portuguese turned 22, he won the opening race of the Challenge Mallorca. In the Trofeo Calvià, he beat Héctor Álvarez (19) in a two-man sprint.
The Challenge Mallorca – a series of five separate one-day races on the popular cycling island – also started this year with the Trofeo Calvià. A race featuring a total of 2,800 meters of elevation gain. Riders had to tackle the Coll den Claret (from both sides), Coll de Sóller (7.5 km at 4.4%), Es Grau (4.1 km at 4.4%), Coll de Sa Gramola (3.8 km at 4.2%) and a hill to Es Capdellà (2.6 km at 5.2%). After that final climb, there were about 16 kilometers left to the finish in Palmanova.
Remco Evenepoel is also kicking off his season with the Challenge Mallorca but will first come into action on Thursday in the Trofeo Ses Salines, the team time trial. So he skipped the Trofeo Calvià. The main favorites on paper were Michael Matthews, Marc Hirschi, Christian Scaroni, Pavel Sivakov, and António Morgado.
Before these contenders made their move, we saw an early breakaway of four riders. Eivind Broholt Fougner (Unibet Rose Rockets), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta), Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility), and Jonathan Klever Caicedo (Petrolike) ignored the rainy conditions and launched the attack. However, on the Coll de Sóller, the group soon fractured. Pietrobon was left alone but waited for a chasing group.
New breakaway group of four
That group consisted of Leander Van Hautegem (Flanders-Baloise), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), and Adrien Boichis (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). They picked up Holter and rejoined Pietrobon. This configuration didn’t hold for long. First, Van Hautegem dropped back, then Pietrobon. So the break was down to three riders.
In the peloton, UAE Emirates XRG initially took the initiative, but later Jayco AlUla took over. However, the Australian team's pace was not high enough to reel in the leading trio easily. With 35 kilometers to go, they still had nearly a two-minute gap. The race started to heat up, and António Morgado created a gap. The Portuguese rider from UAE Emirates XRG went solo in pursuit of Steinhauser, Boichis, and Holter.
Álvarez and Morgado
Those three were still together at the top of the Coll de Sa Gramola despite two accelerations from Steinhauser. The trio headed towards the hill to Es Capdellà. Just before turning onto that final climb of the day, Morgado suddenly caught back up to the leaders. He did so alongside Héctor Álvarez, who rides the Challenge Mallorca for the Spanish national team but usually races for Lidl-Trek’s development squad.
The just 19-year-old Álvarez wasn’t planning to simply sit in. He attacked uphill and opened a solid gap. Morgado was briefly caught off guard but later bridged over, though it took a great effort. The two crested the summit together and then only had to cover descending kilometers. Neither made an attempt to drop the other, so it came down to a two-man sprint.
Two-man sprint
Álvarez had to lead out that sprint. He stayed alongside Morgado for a long time, but eventually, the rider from UAE Emirates XRG passed him. The victory went to the Portuguese rider. Álvarez finished second. Holter completed the podium after winning the sprint for third place against Boichis.
