Artur Mendonça (BTT Loulé/Elevis) competes at the World Championship in France

Portugal will have nine representatives, five in the Olympic cross country discipline (XCO) and four in the downhill specialty (DHI)

Algarve's Artur Mendonça (BTT Loulé/Elevis) is one of the three juniors chosen for the National BTT Team, which will compete in the World Championship of this cycling aspect, in Les Gets, France, between Thursday and Sunday.

Portugal will have nine representatives, five in the Olympic cross country discipline (XCO) and four in the downhill specialty (DHI).

In XCO, the Olympic discipline of BTT, Portugal will have only junior and under-23 riders. In under-23 are called up João Cruz (Axpo/FirstBike Team/Vila do Conde) and Raquel Queirós (MMR Factory Racing Team).

In juniors, in addition to Artur Mendonça (BTT Loulé/Elevis), Guilherme Barros (24-hour Altimetry/Ontrack) and Íris Chagas (Automóveis Ribeiro/GDVP) were also chosen.

“We will be present with a lot of very young runners at the XCO. Artur Mendonça's results in international competitions, throughout the season, allow us to expect a good classification. The same applies to Raquel Queirós, who we intend to continue in the World Cup with the series of places in the top 10 that she has been achieving in recent weeks”, foresees the national coach, Pedro Vigário.

In the DHI, the National Team will have Gonçalo Bandeira and Vasco Vasconcelos, in the elite, and with Henrique Ferreira (Municipality of Porto Moniz/CN Seixal) and Matias Camacho (Caniço Riders/2Cycling), in the junior category.

“We have a DHI team made up of riders who have stood out on the national circuit. The most experienced internationally, despite being a second-year under-23, is Gonçalo Bandeira. The goal for everyone is to reach the final”, summarizes Pedro Vigário.

The first to compete will be the DHI riders, whose qualification will take up the entire morning of Thursday, August 25th. On the same day the juniors compete in the XCO discipline. The women's runs at 14:00 pm and the men's hear the starting gun at 16:00 pm.

Saturday will be the day of the DHI finals. If the Portuguese meet the qualifying objective for the decisive race, they will compete at 8:30 am – juniors – and at 13:35 pm – elite.

Sunday is the day of the under-23 XCO events. Raquel Queirós competes at 8:00 am and João Cruz lines up at 9:45 am.

 



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