Eduardo Lopes

Eduardo Lopes (1987)
Eduardo Lopes
Personal information
Full name Eduardo Lopes
Born (1917-12-22)December 22, 1917
Lisbon, Portugal
Died August 22, 1997(1997-08-22) (aged 79)
Amadora, Portugal
Team information
Discipline Road and Track
Role Rider
Rider type Classics specialist
Amateur team(s)
1937 Sport Lisboa e Benfica
1937 CUF
1938 CUF
Professional team(s)
1939 Unidos (ex-CUF)
1940 Sport Lisboa e Benfica
1941 Sport Lisboa e Benfica
1942 Iluminante
1943 Iluminante
1944 Iluminante
1945 Iluminante
1946 Iluminante
1947 Sporting Clube de Portugal
1948 Sporting Clube de Portugal
Major wins
National Championship Road (1937)
Circuit of Boca do Inferno (1937)
Circuit of Preparation (1938)
District Speed Championship Track (1938)
District Speed Championship Track (1939)
District Speed Championship Track (1941)
National Speed Championship Track (1941)
Circuit of Bairrada (1942)
Round to Lisbon (1942)
Porto-Lisboa (1942)
50 Km Classics (1943)
Circuit of Estoril (1943)
Circuit of Lisbon (1944)
Circuit of Torres Vedras (1944)
Circuit of Mealhada (1945)
Circuit of Malveira (1945)
176 Km Classics (1946)
166 Km Classics (1947)
Circuit of Torres Vedras (1947)
District Speed Championship Track (1947)
Infobox last updated on
8 December 2013

Eduardo Lopes (1917−1997) was a Portuguese professional road and track cyclist.

Unpublished personal photo of Eduardo Lopes from family album.

Short biography

Lopes was born on December 22, 1917, in the civil parish of Socorro (Lisbon).

In 1937 he began his career as a rider for the CUF team, as an amateur.

In 1939 he became a professional. From 1937 to 1947, he had 42 wins on famous circuits at that time, including Bairrada, Mealhada, Torres Vedras, Malveira, and Round to Lisbon, with the highlight being his victory in 1942 in the classic Porto-Lisboa, performed in a single step, with an approximate duration of 10 hours, over a distance of about 330 km. This was the second longest world cycling route, after the Bordeaux-Paris (560 km) and therefore very prestigious both inside and outside Portugal. In 1939 he took 9th place in the Final General Classification of the Tour of Portugal. It was not his specialty or his favorite race. A distance runner and an endurance rider, as evidenced by his victory in Porto-Lisboa, he was mainly a sprinter, winning the District and National Championships of Speed in 1941 and ranking in 2nd place in the National Championships of Speed in 1944, riding for the Iluminante team, which was the primary team he rode for during his career. In 1941, he won the first two stages of the Tour of Portugal, riding in the team of Sport Lisboa e Benfica. In Spain, he was second in the Tour of Mallorca in 1942 and third in the 3rd stage of the Vuelta a España at Badajoz in 1945. In 1947, he concluded his career at the Sporting Clube de Portugal, winning the 166 km Classics, the Circuit of Torres Vedras, being again Districtal Speed Champion and taking first place in the Prologue Stage 1 of the Tour of Portugal, on the runway of Jose Alvalade Stadium.

Was together with João Lourenço, the greatest Portuguese "pistard" of the years 40/50, according to UVP-FPC.

He died on August 22, 1997, at the age of 79 of a cerebral vascular accident.

Oporto-Lisbon Classic race

Although Eduardo Lopes has won several races and circuits (42 victories officially registered on UCI), his most important victory was the famous Portuguese classic race called Porto-Lisboa, in 1942. The Oporto-Lisbon was the most important and popular race in Portugal together with the Tour of Portugal.
The classic Porto-Lisboa with about 330 km of distance, whose first edition was held in 1911, was the world longest race in one single stage, since the end of Bordeaux-Paris (560 km), in 1988.
Eduardo Lopes got the time of 10 hours, 25 minutes and 12 seconds, less than about 3 hours the time of the 1941's edition winner. His time "withstood" six more editions of the race and was only beaten in 1956 (14 years later) and for a few seconds.

Sport career (ratings)

Titles

Year 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 Total
Victories 5 2 4 3 4 3 2 3 8 3 5 42

References

Links

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