António Morgado runner-up to Remco Evenepoel at Trofeo Serra Tramuntana

Making the most of his excellent early-season form, António Morgado picked up his second podium place of the week at the Challenge Mallorca. Adding to his victory from Wednesday’s Trofeo Calvià, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG youngster secured the runner-up spot in Friday’s Trofeo Serra Tramuntana.

Fresh off the heels of helping his team to fourth place in the Trofeo Ses Salines Team Time Trial, Morgado was only bettered by time trial specialist Remco Evenepoel on Friday, with the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe soloing his way to victory in Santuari de Lluc.

It was the first road outing of the season for Evenepoel, and the former road race world champion started it with an unstoppable display.

Behind Evenepoel’s solo crusade, Morgado proved the best of the rest, with the Portuguese rider utilising his powers of acceleration to sprint to second place on the day. His UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Felix Großschartner, meanwhile, came home in sixth. Their impressive performances were matched by their young teammate, Adrià Pericas.

Still just 19 years of age, Pericas made the step up from the team’s Gen Z ranks over the winter and began his time as a WorldTour rider in fine fettle. Forming part of the day’s breakaway on the tough slopes of the Coll de Puig Major (5km at 4.9%), Pericas proved he could stand the test of the afternoon, eventually earning himself the combativity award for his efforts.

Of the collection of riders that made up the breakaway, only Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) was able to match the strength of Pericas as they climbed the Coll de Sóller, with the pair quickly joined by the rampaging Evenepoel, who had made his attack from the peloton behind. Undeterred by the calibre of the former Vuelta a España champion, Pericas remained stuck to Evenepoel’s wheel for a significant amount of time before the Belgian eventually prised himself free.

From here to the finish, Evenepoel put on a vintage show and eventually came to the line with an advantage well exceeding a minute. Pericas, however, became the second rider over the summit of the Coll de Sóller, and despite being swallowed by the peloton, ended the day as a well-earned visitor to the podium for his award.

As for Morgado, the 22-year-old ensured his chase of Evenepoel was as ferocious as possible, with the Coll de sa Batalla (8.4km at 4.9%) taking the rest of the field to the finish line. Here, Morgado was alongside only Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team) and Mathys Rondel (Tudor Pro Cycling), with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG able to get the better of the pair to take second place.

Just five seconds later, Großschartner rolled over the line in sixth to round out an impressive day from the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad. Their next task will be Saturday’s Trofeo Andratx-Pollença, which will be the fourth of five races that make up this week’s Challenge Mallorca.

Morgado: “I feel good, it was a good race, and it is nice. Today was good weather, a good race, it was a hard one. But I feel good and I did my best. Everybody knows Remco [Evenepoel] is one of the strongest in the world, and he deserved to win, he was the strongest.

“I am going to race tomorrow if everything goes right, so let’s see. With these big guys it is hard [to win], but we never know. Our team races to do one thing, and that is win, so we are going to try.”

Trofeo Serra Tramuntana 2026 results:

1. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) 3:34:37

2. António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1’38”

3. Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team) s.t

6. Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1’44”