Luís Costa and Flávio Pacheco, Sporting-Tavira athletes, were in the top 20 of their Paracycling World Championship races, which they competed until this Sunday, September 15, at the service of the national team, in Emmen (Netherlands).
Luís Costa was 11th in the long distance test for the H5 class.
The 66,6 kilometers allowed eight runners to stand out, who discussed the world title. The strongest was home man Tim de Vries, who relegated Italian Alessandro Zanardi to second place and Chinese Qiangli Liu to third. Luís Costa arrived in a second group, in 11th position, 3 minutes and 6 seconds behind the winner.
In the H4 class race, held over 66,6 kilometers, Flávio Pacheco was ranked 15th among 20 participants.
The Algarvian runner was one lap away from the winner – the Dutchman Jetze Plat – who joined the long distance world title to the time trial. The podium was completed with two paracyclists from the United States of America: Thomas Davis and Travis Gaertner, both with the same time as the winner.
José Marques, national coach, said that «Flávio Pacheco is in the process of evolution, and must also adapt to international competition and improve his running technique».
Luís Costa, ninth in the time trial, guaranteed the continuity of integration in the Tokyo'2020 Paralympic project.
Telmo Pinão was on the verge of achieving the same in the C2 class bottom race, but fell on the finish line, while sprinting for sixth place. Saturday's crashes clogged the road with support cars, preventing Bernardo Vieira from reaching the top ten in C1.
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