Fábio Silvestre, 24th ranked, was today the best member of the National Team/Liberty Seguros in the French classic la Côte Picarde, the U23 Cup of Nations competition won by the Norwegian Vegard Breen.
The race proceeded at an extremely high pace, despite the rain, cold and strong wind, there was no rest for the peloton that rarely rolled compactly.
The decision came shortly after the first pass at the finish line, less than 40 kilometers from the end, when Jungels, first, and Breen, then, left the already broken platoon, in the wake of the men who were then on the run. Cooler than the other adventurers, the Luxembourger and the Norwegian broke away from their opponents and discussed the triumph of two, overriding the Nordic.
Among the Portuguese fleet, Fábio Silvestre was the best, finishing in 24th place, after a troubled sprint in which an opponent's touch prevented him from entering the top 10 and ruined the placement work done by Luís Afonso and by Pedro Paulinho, the other Portuguese who finished the race. Involved in falls, without physical consequences, and victims of punctures, Amaro Antunes, Rafael Reis and Ricardo Ferreira ended up giving up.
“The results were not what we wanted, but the race turned out to be a lottery, as there were many crashes and mechanical problems, which affected us, but also the teams in general. Despite this, the indications were positive, verifying that the physical condition of the Portuguese is, at this time, very good, which opens up excellent prospects for future competitions”, says national coach José Poeira.
The next appointment of the National Team/Liberty Seguros is next Saturday, April 14th. This is the ZLM Tour, another classic of a scoring day for the Nations Cup, which will be played in the Netherlands.
La Côte Picarde Rating: Rue – Mers-les-Bains, 176,2 km
1st Vegard Breen (Norway), 4:11:03 am
2nd Bob Jungels (Luxembourg), 2s
3rd Jonas Ahlstrand (Sweden), 12th
4th Filip Eisdheim (Norway), mt
5th Wouter Wippert (Netherlands), mt
24th Fábio Silvestre (Portugal), mt
35th Luís Afonso (Portugal), mt
54th Pedro Paulinho (Portugal), mt
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