Luís Costa, born in the Alentejo and residing in the Algarve, was involved in the medals discussion, but ended up in 6th place in the H5 long distance race of the Paracycling World Cup, held in Ostende (Belgium).
The 62,4 kilometer race was dominated by the Dutchmen Tim de Vries and Mitch Valize, who were even joined by the Frenchman Loic Vergnaud at the head of the race. A puncture by the Frenchman left the first two positions for the representatives of the Netherlands, with de Vries overlapping Valize.
Loic Vergnaud would end up in the group of four runners that discussed the bronze medal. It was in this group that Luís Costa also joined. In the fight for the podium, the best would be the Frenchman, with Luís Costa finishing the race in sixth place, with a delay of 1m35s for the winner.
Portugal was also representing in the distance test for the H4 class.
Flávio Pacheco wore the national colors and finished the 62,4 kilometers in the main peloton of the race, in 17th place, with the same time as tenth, 7m00s behind the winner, the Frenchman Joseph Fritsch. The race was decided in a three-way sprint, with Fritsch beating the Belgian Jonas van de Steene and the French Mathieu Bosredon, second and third, respectively. Running individually, Carlos Neves was 23rd, one lap behind.
«It was a good performance by Luís and Flávio. The runners who ran away were on another level, but Luís soon remained in the immediate group, which discussed the medals. Flávio fulfilled his objective of being integrated into the main squad», said, at the end, José Marques, national coach.
The Belgian stage of the World Cup ends this Sunday, a journey in which Portugal will be represented in the C1 and C2 class distance events by Bernardo Vieira and Telmo Pinão.
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