Rui Costa (cyclist)

Nick Name

: N/A

Born

:05 Oct,1986

Age

:32 years, 10 months

Location

:Povoa de Varzim, Porto, Portugal

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About Rui Costa (cyclist)

Rui Alberto Faria da Costa is a Portuguese professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Lampre-Merida.He is best known for winning the 2013 UCI Road World Championships in Tuscany, Italy – the first Portuguese to do so –, three stages of the Tour de France in 2011 and 2013, and the 2012, 2013 and 2014 editions of the Tour de Suisse, becoming the first cyclist to win the event on three consecutive years.

Professional teams:

2007–2008:Benfica

2009–2010:Caisse d'Epargne

2011–2013:Movistar Team

2014–Lampre-Merida

Career Highlights:

2007–2011:

Costa became a professional cyclist at SL Benfica in 2007, and switched to Caisse d'Epargne in 2009.

In 2009, Costa won the Four Days of Dunkirk followed a stage 8 win in the 2010 Tour de Suisse. At the Portuguese national championships in June 2010 Costa and his brother Mário tested positive for the banned substance methylhexanamine,which they claimed to have ingested inadvertently due to a tainted food supplement. Further testing proved that to be the case,and he re-signed with his former team, now known as Movistar Team, in April 2011 after five months of suspension.

2011

In 2011, Costa performed well in the Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid: after second places at the first and third stage, he won the overall classification.Later that season, Costa rode away solo to win stage 8 of the 2011 Tour de France.Following his previous successes, Costa won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, sprinting away from a late breakaway. He beat breakaway companion Pierrick Fedrigo. Both were chased by Philippe Gilbert, who made a late counter-attack, but came two seconds short.

2012

In 2012, Costa finished third in the General classification of the Tour of Romandie.He won stage 2 in the Tour de Suisse, took the race's lead and successfully defended the yellow jersey through the Tour. He hung on to his 14 seconds overall lead over second-placed Frank Schleck in the last stage, where the Luxembourger attacked on the slopes of the Glaubenberg Pass.

2013

Costa won the elite men's race at the 2013 UCI Road World Championships in Tuscany, Italy, becoming the first Portuguese rider to wear the rainbow jersey. After the race Costa said: "After the tour, the goal was to reach the World Cup in the best possible conditions and make a good race. But I never thought I could win a race as important as this. It means everything to me. It is the reward for a lifetime of effort and hard work."

2014

Costa started the 2014 season by taking third place and the points classification jersey in the Tour of Algarve. He then finished second overall in the Paris-Nice and, for the third consecutive year, claimed the third place in the Tour de Romandie. Costa's first win of the season in the world champion's rainbow jersey occurred in the last stage of the 2014 Tour de Suisse. With this victory Costa took the yellow jersey from Tony Martin and successfully defended his title, thus becoming the first cyclist to win Tour de Suisse three consecutive times.

Costa went to the 2014 UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, with the aim of defending his road race title; he finished in the 23rd place, seven seconds behind the winner and his successor, Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland.

2015

Costa took the fourth place on the general classification of Paris–Nice as a first notable result, thanks in part to a third place on the time trial up Col d'Èze.He finished seventh of the mountainous World Tour race Tour of the Basque Country. He also grabbed the fourth place of the Amstel Gold Race, where Michal Kwiatkowski imposed himself;a week later he would come again in fourth place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He decided not to go defend his title at the Tour de Suisse, which he had won three times in a row, and participate to the Critérium du Dauphiné instead.Costa won the sixth stage of the race after being in the breakaway for most of the day, passing Vincenzo Nibali near the finish line.A week before the Tour de France, Costa won the National Road Race Championships.