Nine riders formed the early break in the third edition of the Figueira Champions Classic. The break was caught with about 50 kilometers to the finish, after which a new wave of attacks followed. It was Filippo Ganna who went solo at 45 kilometers to go, while Team Picnic PostNL was represented in the large chase group by Romain Bardet and Frank van den Broek.
Ganna was eventually caught at 22 kilometers from the line, and then the Portuguese rider Antonio Morgado launched the next solo attack. Morgado built a lead of just over half a minute, but on the final climb, the chase group seemed to close the gap. However, in the descending final kilometers, Morgado managed to maintain his lead and crossed the line as the winner in his home country. In the battle for the remaining podium places, Bardet finished 12th in the sprint.
After the race Bardet said: “It felt good to start racing again, and we were quite lucky with the weather. We focused on staying together to be well-positioned on the climbs, where we tried to be active. I felt pretty good on the steep sections, but then Morgado showed he was the strongest in the race. From that point, it was difficult to make a selection in the group behind. Still, considering it was my first race of the season, I see it as a positive start.”
