By Melody Gross )
Regulation reduces the final circuit cycles to three. Evenepoel tops the star chart
Bad weather forecast for today in the central region of the country, with rain and strong winds, has led the Figueira Champions Classic organization to make some changes to the second edition of the race.
Most importantly, one lap of the final circuit was reduced from the planned four to three, reducing the total length of the race by 30 kilometres, from 222.1 to 192.4. Departure has been delayed by 45 minutes, and the code time is now scheduled for 12.10pm and the real time is now scheduled for 12.20pm.
The strengths of the competition remain the climbs of Parque Florestal (cat 1) and Inforca Cayes (cat 2), both on the final circuit, after Altos de Calvete, Puerto Gordinho, Seca, Saltadoro and Serra Castro in the preliminary stage. .
The Portuguese Classic, which this year has risen to ProSeries level, the second highest UCI competition, after the WorldTour, will feature some of the most prominent riders in the international peloton, such as Remco Evenepoel and Mikel Landa. (Soudal Quick Step), Andrea Baggioli and Edward Theunis (Liddell Trek), Quentin Hermans (Alpecin-Deseuinink) or Marc Hirschi (UAE), but also the Portuguese Antonio Morgado and Rui Oliveira (UAE) and Ruben Guerrero (UAE) Movistar), among more than 160 athletes in 23 teams, ten World Teams, four ProTeams and nine continental teams, the Portuguese teams.
Remco Evenepoel, the most popular runner in the Clásica da Figueira who will also compete in the Vuelta au Algarve (February 14-18), wants to leave Portugal “with a victory in his pocket,” the young Belgian said yesterday, at a ceremony in Portugal. . Da Soudal's press conference that will start the season today.
“For mind and morale, it is always good to start with a victory. “We have good goals for this week,” Remco said. “My experience tells me that the races here in Portugal are always very explosive and this Classic is like that, and it ends on a difficult track.”