Portugal and the Tour de France

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:22 am

Well it seems the grand daddy of all bike races only has one rider from Portugal in it, José Azevedo. Here is a little bio of him

"José Azevedo (born 19 September 1973 in Vila do Conde) is a notable Portuguese professional cyclist. His principal career successes have been fifth at the 2001 Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy), sixth at the 2002 Tour de France and fifth at the 2004 Tour de France.

He currently rides for the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. Until the year of 2005 he was a renowned domestique, that is to say, his primary role was to serve as Lance Armstrong's lieutenant in mountain stages. Nicknamed 'the Ace', he moved to US Postal (now Discovery) from the now-defunct ONCE Team in 2004. He also raced previously for the Maia and Recer-Boavista teams. Azevedo's role for the 2006 season is still uncertain.

He already finished in 6th position in 2006 Paris-Nice race and in 4th position in Dauphiné Libéré 2006.

Currently he wears the number 1 jersey at the 2006 Tour de France, after being chosen as the leader of Discovery. That happens following the retirement of 2005's winner, his former teammate Lance Armstrong."

Although the #1 jersey is more of a ceremonial thing, as if the previous years winner does not return to race again, that riders team gets numbers 1-10. The team, Discovery Channel, has said they have no clear leader at this point and are waiting to see how things play out after the first week of the race.

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:20 pm

Hopefully he will not throw himself on the ground as often as sme of his countrymen did against France last night :?

Derek

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:23 am

Amen to that!

There are at least six Americans watching the Tour de France now that Lance has retired. I am gratified that we have one of them as a FTLOP participant. Congratulations Andy! :hello:

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:02 am

...and the other 5 are guys on my cycling team, haha

Other than port, cycling is my other passion. I started racing at 13 years old and have never stopped since. This years Tour is going to be very interesting, all the favorites are not riding due to that ugly drug scandle.

OTOH, I was sad to see Fred Rodriguez crash out of the Tour yesterday, he and I were on the same team as juniors. A great guy and a good classics rider, but it seems he always has a tough time in the Tour.

BTW, sorry to hear about Portugal.