Daniel Viegas: “This good result makes me very confident for the next races”

During this weekend Portugal celebrated its national cycling championships for the under 23 and elite categories and the only Lusitanian rider of the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team, Daniel Viegas, participated in the competition with an outstanding participation in the under 23 time trial on Saturday.

In the time trial of Paredes, 18.1 kilometers between Gandra and the kart circuit of Baltar in which 34 cyclists took part, the rider of Faro finished in the outstanding fourth final place of the U23 event. Viegas stopped the time in 25:32, 11 seconds away from the bronze medal and 34 seconds away from a Guilherme Mota who won the gold medal with his time of 24:58.

“I was looking forward to a good result both in the time trial and in the long-distance race. In the Circuit de Getxo and in the Tour de l’Ain I felt good and I achieved a good competitive tone, I thought I could make it into good results”, explains Viegas.

“The time trial was quite demanding, with several hard breaks that broke your rhythm, but I maintained a regularity throughout the race. Fourth place is a good result that makes me very confident for the next races. In the end Guiherme, Daniel Dias and Pedro Andrade showed their quality, but at least I have the satisfaction of having been in the fight for the medals and of having achieved the best provisional time for some moments”, he adds.

In this Sunday’s road race Viegas was unable to continue with his previous good performance due to a very early mechanical breakdown which prevented him from continuing in the race. “Psychologically it has been hard, I was a little disappointed; although I started alone, without other team-mates, I came with the intention of trying to win the route and I could barely ride ten of the 138 kilometers because in a sidewalk section where we were riding very fast I had a problem with the brakes that I couldn’t solve with the neutral assistance”.

? João Fonseca / UVP – Federação Portuguesa de Ciclismo

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)