Algarve cyclist Raquel Dias was today the best Portuguese in the women's junior long-distance race, held over 73,6 kilometres, between Uster and Zurich, Switzerland, with victory going to British rider Cat Ferguson.
The athlete finished in 75th place in the race that took place under persistent rain, something that, according to the Portuguese Cycling Federation, “added difficulty to the technical circuit around Zurich, which the women's peloton completed a lap and a half on”.
Portugal was represented by two athletes from the Algarve, Raquel Dias and Maria Constança Marques, who competed with the mission of “looking at this event as another opportunity to acquire experience and dynamics of competition at the highest level”.
“Faced with such high-quality opponents, on such a difficult course and under such dramatic weather conditions, it was important that both cyclists managed to finish. That’s what they did and they deserve congratulations,” said national coach José Luis Algarra.
Maria Constança Marques, a first-time World Championship competitor and first-year junior, was the first to give in, losing contact with the second large group at the start of the final third of the race. She finished in 91st place, 13m04s behind the winner.
“It was my first time at the World Championships and I’m very happy to have finished. Given the circumstances – a very tough race, against the best in the world – it was a good debut. The race is difficult for the rivals, because they are the ones who set the pace and make the race tough, but of course the rain made everything more complicated”, says Maria Constança Marques.
Raquel Dias resisted in the second large group, but opted for cautious driving on the descents, which led her to lose the wheel of her opponents, reaching the finish line in 75th place, 8m11s behind the world champion.
“It was a very difficult race. Initially, I didn’t feel the best. But when we started to climb, I started to recover some places and started to feel better. Then I decided to do a more controlled descent to be able to finish safely, because the road was very dangerous. The level of demand is very high. The race was very tough”, says Raquel Dias.
In the race, Cat Ferguson was the strongest, followed by the Spanish Paula Ostiz and the Slovak Viktoria Chladonova, all with 1h54m48s (average of 38,467 km/h).
At 13:15 pm it will be the turn of male juniors Daniel Moreira and José Miguel Moreira to leave Uster for a 127,2 kilometre journey, which includes three and a half laps of the route around Zurich.
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