Granfondo Coimbra Region a very successful newcomer in the series

Two weeks after the 2021 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Bosnia, more than a thousand riders headed to Portugal for the very first UCI Granfondo Coimbra Region for a time trial on Saturday and a granfondo and mediofondo on Sunday in the beautiful landscapes of Coimbra, a tourist region in the middle between Porto and Lisbon.

The time trial in Figueira da Foz along the coastline had 233 registered riders on the mainly flat course but had a though 1km climb at the turning point which offered splendid views over the city. Alberto Amaral (M50-54) scored the best overall time beating a lot of his younger components with almost half a minute. Spanish Ivan Sa (M45-49) got in second and Jorge Marques (M19-34) took overall third to win his age group.

Ana Caramelo (F19-34) was the first female to beat Rosa Rodrigues (F50-54) by exactly one minute while Ana Santos (F40-44) took third in the overall female classification.

The average speed of the respective winners were 44 and 36.4 km/h.

The full peloton moved 20km inlands for the granfondo and mediofondo with 829 registered riders on Sunday which started in foggy conditions, but an hour later, the sun appeared and it turned out to be a perfect sunny autumn day.

French Loic Ruffaut (M19-34) attacked after a few kilometers to be taken back by Paulo Pereira, but the Portuguese had to let go the Frenchman on the 4km climb halfway. Ruffaut showed his good legs taking a 6 minutes gap to a large group of more than 40 riders behind winning with an amazing solo.

Rui Sa (M35-39) sprinted to second place at the uphill finish at Montemor-o-Velho castle before Nuno Inacio (M40-44) to both secure the win in their age groups.

Ana Caramelo outsprinted Sofia Gomes in a very tight sprint for the female overall win to do the double after the ITT win the day before while Raquel Tabernero got in third to secure her F35-39 win.

Granfondo Coimbra Region was a very welcome new event in the series, run in a professional way and will come back next year 12-13 March to be positioned in spring for the upcoming years.

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