Rui Costa is World Road Race Champion – it is just fantastic to see a cyclist local to us here at Carvalho Custom winning the rainbow jersey. Portuguese cycling is dismally underfunded, but is nevertheless one of the top national sports and against all the odds, Rui did it. So on behalf of Carvalho Custom, congratulations and having had such an unbelievable 2013, let’s see what he can do in 2014!
As well as producing great cyclists(and triathletes – another local girl, Vanessa Fernandes, was world triathlon champion in 2007 as well as being one of the nicest girls you could hope to meet!), Portugal has become a world centre for excellence in the production of high-end sports clothing and cycling/triathlon clothing in particular. 20 years ago, Portugal was known for producing cheap and cheerful sports clothing to export to the north of Europe. Nowadays the Far East has taken over that role, but Portugal has reinvented itself as a source for premium clothing (and in particular sports clothing) and with all the gloom and doom surrounding the Portuguese economy, the premium clothing and footwear sectors in general are one of the few bright spots for Portuguese manufacturing.
So, sporting success from athletes and clothing manufacturing are at last giving Portugal something to cheer about and as an adopted Portuguese man, that makes me very proud!
