When the big start of La Vuelta 24 was announced from Portugal, on the morning of the last stage of the previous edition in Madrid, Rui Costa was thrilled: “After the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in Florence, where I became the world champion (in 2013), La Vuelta starting in my country makes me want to continue my career in 2024!”.
The native of Povoa de Varzim in the north of the country has seen half of his wish granted, at age 37, by being selected by his EF Education-EasyPost team for the Grande Boucle. The second is approaching. He is the flag-bearer of Portuguese cycling, as no other of his compatriots features on the list of race winners to the rainbow jersey.
Legend has it that Joaquim Agostinho was the only Portuguese rider to reach the final podium of a Grand Tour: 3rd in the Tour de France in 1978 and 1979, and 2nd in La Vuelta 1974, eleven seconds behind José Manuel Fuente ‘El Tarangu’, in what remains the second closest gap between winner and runner-up (after the six seconds between Éric Caritoux and Alberto Fernandez in 1984).
Twelve Portuguese riders have won at least one stage in a Grand Tour, for a total of 31 successes: Joao Rebelo de Jesus (La Vuelta 1945, in Bilbao and Reinosa); Joao Lourenco (La Vuelta 1946, in Murcia and Gijon); José Cardoso (La Vuelta 1959, in San Sebastian); Antonio Barbosa (La Vuelta 1961, in Madrid) ; Joaquim Agostinho (twice in the 1969 Tour de France, once in the 1973 and 1979 Tour de France, twice in La Vuelta 1974, in Cangas de Onis and Anoeta, and once in La Vuelta 1976 in Cartagena); Paulo Ferreira (Tour de France 1984) ; Acacio Da Silva (twice in the Giro d’Italia in 1985 and 1986, plus once in 1989, once in the Tour de France in 1987, 1988 and 1989); Sergio Paulinho (La Vuelta 2006 in Santillana del Mar and Tour de France 2010) ; Rui Costa (Tour de France 2011 plus twice in 2013, and La Vuelta 23 in Lekunberri); Nelson Oliveira (La Vuelta 2015 in Tarazona); Ruben Guerreiro (Giro d’Italia 2020); Joao Almeida (Giro d’Italia 2023).
With eight stage victories, Acacio Da Silva is the Portuguese rider with the most wins in the Grand Tours. He has worn the yellow jersey and the pink jersey, both in 1989. He grew up in Luxembourg, where he won a Tour de France stage, and indeed the international history of Portuguese cycling champions is often the product of exile.
Agostinho would not have had such a glorious career, including thirteen appearances in the Tour de France, if he hadn’t been spotted by Viscount Jean de Gribaldy, the French sporting director of the teams he set up from scratch with athletes that nobody else would go out and find. Agostinho had fought in the wars in Angola and Mozambique, where his brute strength had been noted by a captain because he covered in two hours on heavy courier bikes a distance that would have taken other soldiers five hours.
Stage 2 of La Vuelta 24 will pass, at km 67, through his hometown of Torres Vedras, where a cycling museum in his name was inaugurated in 2021. This year, Portugal commemorates the fortieth anniversary of his tragic death in a race, caused by a dog, in the Volta ao Algarve on 10 May 1984. At over forty, he had resumed his professional career to accompany the Sporting team’s debut in France.
That year, wearing the white jersey with green stripes, Paulo Ferreira shone brightly when he broke away on the 3rd kilometer of stage 5 of the 207-km long stage, beating the two Frenchmen Vincent Barteau and Maurice Le Guilloux in a surprise sprint almost eighteen minutes before the peloton arrived. He was 22 years old and was never seen again in a Grand Tour.
His successors, like Agostinho before him, did not have this opportunity to race the Tour for a Portuguese team and had to seduce prestigious foreign teams in order to compete at the highest level, either for their own ambitions or in the service of great leaders. Sergio Paulinho took the silver medal in the Olympic road race in 2004 and was then team-mate of Alberto Contador on six of his seven victorious Grand Tours.
José Azevedo finished 5th and 6th overall in the Tour de France (in 2004 and 2002). Rui Costa is not only the only Portuguese world champion, but also the only Portuguese rider to win the Tour de Suisse three years in a row, in 2012, 2013 and 2014. His portrait features prominently on the façade of the Museu do ciclismo Joaquim Agostinho in Torres Vedras.
While waiting for the coming of age of the phenomenon Antonio Morgado, 2nd in the u23 world championship in 2023 and 5th in his first Tour of Flanders this year, at the age of 20, Portuguese cycling can hope for a first overall victory in La Vuelta with Joao Almeida, who came out of his first Tour de France in great form, taking fourth place overall while supporting the yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar.
In seven Grand Tours at the age of 25, he has finished six of them in the top ten, only to be ousted by Covid in the 2022 Giro d’Italia while he was standing in fourth place. 3rd in the 2023 Giro, 4th in La Vuelta 22, his time has come to aim for absolute consecration. Stage 2 will also pass through his hometown, Caldas da Rainha (km 111), which is also Morgado’s hometown. – www.lavuelta.es
