Sérgio Paulinho Profile

Published: November 30, 2009Posted in: Roster
Sérgio Paulinho Profile
Sergio Paulinho

Sergio Paulinho

Sérgio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (born March 26, 1980 in Oeiras) is a Portuguese road racing cyclist who most recently rode for the Astana Team.   He is the son of former cyclist Jacinto Paulinho and has a street named after him in his hometown in Portugal.

He turned professional in 2003 with the ASC-Vila do Conde Team after an impressive year in which he won a bronze medal in the U23 World Time Trial Championships in Belgium and won 3 stages in the Volta ao Portugal do Futuro.  He has since ridden for four other professional cycling teams: LA–Pecol (2004), Liberty Seguros – Würth (2005-6), Discovery Channel (2007), and then Astana for the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

In 2004 he won a spot on his country’s Olympic cycling team and went on to win the silver medal in the men’s road race at the Athens Olympic Games.  He missed out on the gold medal by a margin of only .01 of a second to Paolo Bettini of Italy.   He is a good stage racer, climber and has had much success in prologues and time trials in the past, having already worn his nation’s Time Trial Championship jersey twice.

He has ridden in a support role twice for a winning team member in the Tour de France (2007 and 2009) and in the Vuelta España (2008).  His major results include:  National Time Trial Champion in 2004, 2 stages (7 and 10) in the Volta a Portugal of 2004, 1st overall (1st stage 1) Volta a Tras os Montes, and 1st Stage 3 Volta a Terras de Santa Maria also in 2004.  In 2006 he was 1st in Stage 10 of the Vuelta.  National Time Trial Champion for the second time in 2008 and in 2009 won Stage 4 of the Tour de France with his teammates in the Team Time Trial.

By George Hurst