Portugal will be at the European track championships in Grenchen, from Wednesday to Sunday, with six cyclists, including Olympian Maria Martins and European scratch champion Iúri Leitão, with their eyes set on qualifying for Paris2024.
In Switzerland, the priority is to start the Olympic qualification cycle well, bringing in the reigning scratch champion, after Leitão’s gold in Munich2022, and a number of experienced names alongside two emerging youngsters.
Portugal will be present, mainly, in the endurance races, that is, omnium and madison, as well as the scratch, the elimination, points and individual pursuit, and in one of speed, the men’s kilometers time trial.
“This European Championship is important for us because it marks the beginning of the Olympic qualification. For us, in terms of goals, the priority is the best possible performance in Olympic events, in this case the women’s and men’s omnium, besides the men’s madison. We have to take the maximum points”, highlighted to Lusa the national selector, Gabriel Mendes.
Leitão defends the scratch gold achieved in 2022, imitating the feat of 2021, and also adds two silver and two bronze medals in elite European championships, in addition to having been runner-up in the elimination world championship, in Roubaix2021.
‘Tata’ Martins, meanwhile, is looking for more success at Europeans, after a bronze in scratch in 2019 and another in elimination in 2020, appearing galvanized by the second bronze of her career at Worlds, achieved in 2022 in the Olympic omnium competition at the same Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome where the podiums for Paris2024 will be discussed.
Besides the Fenix-Deceuninck athlete, the first Portuguese in the WorldTour road race peloton, and the Caja Rural sprinter, Portugal will have Rui Oliveira (UAE Emirates), five times European medalist, in the race, as well as João Matias (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua), European runner-up in elimination in 2021, in the same Grenchen velodrome.
Completing the lot are young Diogo Narciso (Credibom-LA Alumínios-Marcos Car), in his second participation in elite Europeans, and Rodrigo Caixas (Credibom-LA Alumínios-Marcos Car), in his debut.
“It is also, for these youngsters, an opportunity to demonstrate their value and make the best of the opportunity we are giving them, for the development process they are going through, and the contribution they have also been giving to the track team,” explains Gabriel Mendes.
If Diogo Narciso has already shown his talent at this level, accompanying Iúri Leitão in a fourth place in Madison at the Munich Europeans last year, he has here “one more competitive opportunity in the evolution process”, in which he has “shown value”.
“Rodrigo Caixas will be an elite debut, even though he already has experience in the U-23. It’s a higher level, and it’s part of our development strategy to give opportunities to the younger riders. Their presence and participation here is important in the context of all the work we are doing for the development of track cycling,” notes Gabriel Mendes.
As for the results in the 11 races in which Portugal will be represented, without having announced, for now, the distribution of cyclists for each one, the national coach guarantees that the focus is on “giving the best and working for better performances”, in a “competitive process against nations that seek the same”, that is, the Olympic qualification.
Below the ‘powers’ of the track, the national ‘pistards’ know that it is “a priority to have places that allow good scores” for the ranking, and in this aspect, “if I can get a podium place, excellent.