The Portuguese cyclist Nelson Oliveira finished this Sunday in eighth place in the road world time trial, which takes place in Wollongong, Australia, with the Norwegian Tobias Foss surprising the favorites and winning.
Foss completed the 34.2km time trial in 40.02 minutes, beating Switzerland’s Stefan Küng and Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, who were three and nine seconds behind the rainbow jersey, respectively.
Nelson Oliveira, who was the only representative of the national team in the elite individual time trial, due to the physical unavailability of João Almeida, was 59 seconds behind the winner, managing to integrate for the fifth time a top-10 in world championships in his career and reinforcing the status of the greatest Portuguese time trial expert of the last decade.
“The goal was to break into the top 10 once again and I am very happy that we achieved it. I felt good throughout the time trial. I knew that the final part would be the key. It was important not to give everything in the first lap and save strength for the end. That was key. I felt good. I am very happy that, after so many years, I am still in the top 10 of the World Cup”, said the Portuguese cyclist, in statements released by the Portuguese Cycling Federation (FPC).
According to the FPC, João Almeida had gastrointestinal problems and fever upon arrival in Australia, and was left out of the time trial so that “he can perform in the best conditions in the long-distance test next Sunday.”
The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar was sixth, 48 seconds behind Foss, while the Italian Filippo Ganna, twice world champion, was one of the surprises, but on the negative side, as he finished in seventh position, with 56 seconds less than the norwegian
At dawn from Monday to Tuesday, Portugal will once again compete in the Wollongong World Championships, in the case of the junior individual time trial, in which it will be represented in the 28.8 km race by António Morgado and Gonçalo Tavares.
The road cycling world championships are held until September 25 in Australia.
Source: Observadora
