My Story

I started mountain biking with my father when I was 7 years old. I would go with him to races while he’d do marathons. My passion for cycling grew when I watched the Tour de France in 2005. I was eleven. My friends and I would talk the next day about what happened and who was in the yellow jersey etc.

I switched to road racing when I was 17. It was late to change to the road but I became Portuguese junior road champion and started believing that maybe I could make it as a cyclist.

It’s difficult to make it as a professional coming from Portugal. We don’t have many UCI races so when I got the opportunity to race internationally, I had to make the most of it.

I remember training so hard for the Tour de l’Avenir in 2014. I was hoping that a good result could get me some exposure. Back then, I had no coach, no power meter. I didn’t know anything about watts and power. I made sure I did a lot of racing leading up to the race so that I was in good shape. I won the Volta a Portugal do Futuro just before l’Avenir so that was a good confidence booster. It took me to the next step.  

I got top 15 on GC in l’Avenir and that got the attention of Axeon Cycling Team. They wrote to me and I thought I was dreaming. They signed me for the next year. That winter I was so motivated. I trained so hard because I couldn’t believe this opportunity I’d received.

Getting to the first training camp with the team, I could only say two words in English. It was a bit of a challenge. I was trying to be funny and make jokes but no one understood me haha. But I was so motivated by this opportunity that I could say 22 English words by the end of the camp.

My career with the team couldn’t have started better. Our first race was at home in Portugal. We had such a good group of guys, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Logan Owen, James Oram, all those guys. I won the race. I can’t describe the emotions I felt. My time in America with Axeon is something I will remember forever. It really is a special team.

Getting to the World Tour was a big step for me. I signed a two-year contract with Trek.

I spent 15 days in a training camp with Alberto Contador and did the Basques Country with him. He was a good leader. He’d always ask everyone about their lives and you could feel her cares about his teammates. I thought to myself, “I’m teammates with Alberto Contador, life is moving fast. How did I get here so quickly?”

It motivated me to prove why I was there.

Unfortunately, I had health problems in the first two years. I had an appendicitis in my first year and continued to have stomach problems in the second year. It stopped me from achieving my real potential but I’m not someone who gives up. I’m mentally very strong. When I was healthy, I could show my best form, winning the national title in my first year as an elite and some good top ten results for example.

My character is to always achieve more, I always want to go to the next level so I speak to a lot of teammates and managers to learn to improve. Sometimes I’m too ambitious and need to learn patience. I have a good support team who helps me focus. My agent Joao helps me a lot as well as some sports directors.

There is a sports director in Portugal, Manuel Correia, who is a very important person to me. I raced on his under 23 team and he has helped shape me. He is great when it comes to working with young riders. I started winning a lot when I was young and it’s easy to start feeling like a world champion but he would say, “hey young man, you need to calm down. There are still 2000 riders better than you, you need to be humble and learn.”

So that is something I will never forget.

My big dream right now is to ride the Tour de France. I’ve talked to some teammates about it and they say it’s a race like no other. The level is just bigger than any other race you’ll experience. This is what I’m working towards.