{"id":651474,"date":"2025-12-24T00:57:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/651474\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T00:57:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:57:14","slug":"uaes-rising-star-sees-plenty-of-room-for-improvement-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/651474\/","title":{"rendered":"UAE’s rising star sees plenty of room for improvement in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nEven if he managed to get three wins the whole season (Gran Premio Castell\u00f3n, Figueira Champions Classic<\/a> and Portugal’s time trial national championships), he wasn’t rewarded with a Grand Tour appearance, and he had to do domestique work for most of the year.<\/p>\n

The spring campaign, which had started on a positive note, was disrupted early by illness. \u201cAfter Omloop and Trofeo Laigueglia, I got sick for the first time. I stayed off the bike for eight days,\u201d he explained. \u201cAfter that, it was very difficult to get back into shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those health issues were recurring, hindering his recovery. \u201cAfter the Portuguese time trial championships, I suddenly felt very bad. I couldn\u2019t see properly with one eye,.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the problem was revealed to be more serious than initially expected. \u201cWhenever I made an effort, everything started spinning. Tests showed I had loose ear crystals. That caused problems for about a month and a half.\u201d In addition to that, Morgado caught Covid-19 during the summer.<\/p>\n

Renewed ambition for Flanders and Giro debut<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to 2026, Morgado\u2019s objective is clear. \u201cTo become a better rider. I know I can be much better than what I showed last year,\u201d he said. \u201cWhether I win one, two or four races doesn\u2019t matter that much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Belgian classics are one of his main ambitions. \u201cLast season I was very bad at positioning in the Flemish races,\u201d Morgado acknowledged. \u201cWhenever the favourites went, I had to chase from the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

His solution is a mental shift. \u201cYou have to be a little crazy to fight for your place at the front,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m too kind in all the pushing and shoving. In those moments, you can\u2019t think about anyone else. I need to change my mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"van<\/p>\n

Morgado was third at La Fl\u00e8che Braban\u00e7onne this year<\/p>\n

Flemish races have become his favourite races, but why is that? There are two main reasons. “They are races where endurance is very important, and you have to keep fighting all the time. I like that. On the other hand, I love the Flemish fans. When they encourage me on the climbs, they often call me Molano,” he laughed. “I know we look alike, but we\u2019re not the same.”<\/p>\n

In 2026, Morgado is scheduled to ride a handful of Belgian classics, including Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Dwars door Vlaanderen<\/a> and the Tour of Flanders<\/a>. And the team has granted him leader status in some of the races. “In the major classics, I’ll have to help the leaders. But in the smaller classics, I’ll have a free role.”After the classics season is over, Morgado will make his Grand Tour debut<\/a>. \u201cI will ride the Giro,\u201d Morgado confirmed. \u201cIt\u2019s my ambition to be in good shape there and support our leader Joao Almeida. I also want to show that I\u2019ve become a better climber.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Even if he managed to get three wins the whole season (Gran Premio Castell\u00f3n, Figueira Champions Classic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[199364,4230,192892,199365,79,10104,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-651474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-antonio-morgado","9":"tag-cycling","10":"tag-dwars-door-vlaanderen","11":"tag-figueira-champions-classic","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tour-of-flanders","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115771830773091671","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}