The national cycling selector José Poeira made the first choice with a view to national representation at the London Olympic Games, pre-selecting twelve runners for this commitment.
Cyclists included in the extended list already sent to the Olympic Committee of Portugal are: André Cardoso, Hernâni Broco and Manuel Cardoso (Caja Rural), César Fonte, Filipe Cardoso and Sérgio Sousa (Efapel-Glassdrive), Bruno Pires and Sérgio Paulinho (Saxo Bank), Nelson Oliveira and Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan), José Mendes (LA-Antarte) and Rui Costa (Movistar).
From the dozen pre-selected, three men will be chosen to represent the National Team/Liberty Seguros in the road races. The trio will participate in the long distance race, on July 28th, and one of the three will take part in the individual time trial, on August 1st.
“The Olympic Games are a particular and highly motivating competition. Furthermore, as the number of runners for each team is very limited, the competitions are, as a rule, much more open than, for example, in the World Cup. The pre-selected lot is expanded, allowing us to monitor the performance of each of these cyclists throughout the season so that, at the moment of the final decision, we are fully aware of which runners give us the greatest guarantees, both in terms of of individual characteristics and of the state of form”, explains José Poeira.
Portugal already knows what it's like to take the podium at the Olympic Games in this sport. In 2004, at the Athens Games, Sérgio Paulinho won the silver medal in the long-distance event, behind Italian Paolo Bettini.
With the qualification already guaranteed on the road side, Portuguese cycling continues to struggle to win qualification in cross country, the discipline of mountain biking, whose final ranking will be known in May.
Comments