Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (born 5 October 1986) is a Portuguese professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

, who rides for

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

. He is best known for winning the

2013 UCI Road World Championships The 2013 UCI Road World Championships took place in Tuscany, Italy, between 22 and 29 September 2013. The Championships consisted of 12 events for elite, under-23 and junior cyclists. It was the 86th Road World Championships, the 13th in Italy ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, Italy (the first Portuguese rider to do so), three stages of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, one stage in the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, and the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

editions of the Tour de Suisse, becoming the first cyclist to win the event for three consecutive years.

Early life and amateur career

Born in

Aguçadoura Aguçadoura is a Portuguese ''freguesia'' ("civil parish") and former civil parish located in Póvoa de Varzim. In the census of 2001, it had a population of 4,530 inhabitants and a total area of 3.47 km2. A 2013 law amalgamated it into the ne ...

Póvoa de Varzim Póvoa de Varzim () is a Portugal, Portuguese city in Norte Region, Portugal, Northern Portugal and sub-region of Greater Porto, from its city centre. It sits in a sandy coastal plain, a cuspate foreland, halfway between the Minho River, Minho ...

, Costa started his career at Guilhabreu, a civil parish of

Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,533, in an area of 149.03 km2. The urbanized area of Vila do Conde, which includes the parishes of ...

, then went to Santa Maria da Feira.

Professional career

2007–10: Early years

Costa became a professional cyclist at Benfica in 2007, and switched to in 2009. In 2009, Costa won the

Four Days of Dunkirk The Four Days of Dunkirk () is road bicycle race around the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. Despite the name of the race, since the addition of an individual time trial in 1963, the race has been held over a 5 or 6 day period for ...

followed by a win on stage 8 of the

2010 Tour de Suisse The 2010 Tour de Suisse was the 74th edition of the Tour de Suisse stage race. It took place from 12 June to 20 June and was part of both the 2010 UCI ProTour and the 2010 UCI World Ranking, World Calendar. It began with a short individual time tri ...

In 2010, Costa was involved with an altercation with Carlos Barredo at the end of Stage 6 of the

, with Barredo removing his front wheel and attempting to club Costa with it before both riders lobbed blows at each other. Both were fined 300 francs for the incident. At the Portuguese national championships in June 2010 Costa and his brother Mário tested positive for the banned substance

methylhexanamine Methylhexanamine (also known as methylhexamine, 1,3-dimethylamylamine, 1,3-DMAA, dimethylamylamine, and DMAA; trade names Forthane and Geranamine) is an indirect sympathomimetic drug invented and developed by Eli Lilly and Company and marketed ...

, which they claimed to have ingested inadvertently due to a tainted food supplement. Further testing proved that to be the case, and he re-signed with his former team, then known as , in April 2011 after five months of suspension.

2011

In 2011, Costa performed well in the Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid: after second places in the first and third stages, he won the overall classification. Later that season, Costa rode away solo to win stage 8 of the

. Following his previous successes, Costa won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, sprinting away from a late breakaway, beating breakaway companion Pierrick Fédrigo. Both were chased by

Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the 2012 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two rid ...

, who made a late counter-attack, but came two seconds short.

2012

In 2012, Costa finished third in the General classification of the

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. It ...

. He won stage 2 in the Tour de Suisse, took the race's lead and successfully defended the yellow jersey through the Tour. He hung on to his 14 seconds overall lead over second-placed Fränk Schleck in the last stage, where Schleck attacked on the slopes of the Glaubenberg Pass. Schleck crested the climb with an advantage of a minute over Costa, but was reeled back in along the descent by the small group containing Costa. The pair finished the stage with the same time. He said after the important win: ''"I want to dedicate this to the team, because my teammates worked magnificently all week. I have no words to describe it."'' Costa headed to the

, slated to ride in support of his leader

Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish cyclist, who competed as a professional in road bicycle racing from 2002 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2022, and now competes in gravel cycling for the Movistar Team Gravel Squad. During ...

, but crashes and incidents plagued Valverde, who still managed to grab a stage win and finished 20th overall. Costa placed higher than his captain in the general classification at 18th. He then participated in the GP Ouest-France, where he settled for second place of the French classic. He escaped on the last climb of the day with to go, but 's Edvald Boasson Hagen passed him in the final kilometer, and Costa protected his second place as the surging peloton crossed the finish line on his heels. In September, he headed to the Canadian province of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

to take part in the two World Tour races held there. He took the third step of the podium in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, winning the sprint of a group of 16 riders in hot pursuit of the two escapees, Simon Gerrans and Greg Van Avermaet, who finished four seconds ahead of Costa. Two days later, he aimed at defending his title in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, but finished eighth, once again with a 4-second deficit over the winner, Lars Petter Nordhaug. He concluded his season in China at the Tour of Beijing, scoring another top ten overall placing with ninth.

2013

In 2013, Costa started the year by winning the

Klasika Primavera The Klasika Primavera () is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in April in Amorebieta, Spain. Since 2005, the race is organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Established in 1946 as ''Gran Premio de Primavera'', it is now he ...

and finishing third in the

and also aimed to defend his Tour de Suisse title. He later successfully defended his title after winning stage seven, and then taking the yellow jersey from Mathias Frank after winning the final stage, a hill climb time trial. In the

, Costa left the Pyrenees inside the top ten. On stage 13, Costa lost close to ten minutes after going back to try to help his team leader, Valverde, who suffered a puncture. On stage 16, Costa ended up on a breakaway where he attacked on the last climb of the day, the Col de Manse before the final downhill to a solo finish in Gap. He was also awarded the combativity prize of that stage. A few days later, Costa won stage 19 after escaping from the lead group on the Col de la Croix Fry, he ended up with another solo finish in Le Grand-Bornand. Costa won the elite men's race at the

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and , a UCI Road World Championships ...

in Tuscany, Italy, becoming the first Portuguese rider to wear the rainbow jersey. After the race Costa said: ''"After the Tour, the goal was to reach the World Cup in the best possible conditions and make a good race. But I never thought I could win a race as important as this. It means everything to me. It is the reward for a lifetime of effort and hard work."''

2014–22: Lampre–Merida

Costa left the at the end of the 2013 season, and joined for the 2014 season.

2014

Costa started the 2014 season by taking third place and the points classification jersey in the Volta ao Algarve. He then finished second overall in

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the ...

and, for the third consecutive year, claimed the third place in the

. Costa's first win of the season in the world champion's rainbow jersey occurred in the last stage of the Tour de Suisse. With this victory Costa took the yellow jersey from Tony Martin and successfully defended his title, thus becoming the first cyclist to win Tour de Suisse three consecutive times. Costa entered the

with high hopes, aiming for a podium finish, but started to lose touch with the front riders due to

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

. During the second rest day, his health condition worsened and he was diagnosed with

bronchopneumonia Bronchopneumonia is a subtype of pneumonia. It is the acute inflammation of the Bronchus, bronchi, accompanied by inflamed patches in the nearby lobules of the lungs. citing: Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition, Copyright 2014 ...

. Ranked 13th in the general classification, Costa was forced to withdraw from the Tour. He returned to

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...

competition at the GP Ouest-France, crossing the finish line in 92nd place, 11 seconds behind winner Sylvain Chavanel. Costa then competed in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, securing a runner-up place in the latter race, behind Simon Gerrans. Costa went to the

Ponferrada Ponferrada () is a city of Spain, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Ponferrada, the second most populated municipality of the Province of León, is also the capital city of El Bierzo, the only Comarcas of Spain, ''comarca'' ...

, Spain, with the aim of defending his road race title; he finished in 23rd place, seven seconds behind the winner and his successor, Michał Kwiatkowski of Poland.

2015

Costa took the fourth place in the general classification of

as a first notable result, thanks in part to a third place on the time trial up Col d'Èze. He finished seventh in the mountainous World Tour race, the Tour of the Basque Country. He also grabbed the fourth place in the Amstel Gold Race, where Michał Kwiatkowski imposed himself; a week later he would come again in fourth place at

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège , also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Cycling monument, Monuments'' of the Eur ...

. He decided not to go defend his title at the Tour de Suisse, which he had won three times in a row, and participated in the concurrent

Critérium du Dauphiné The Critérium du Dauphiné, before 2010 known as the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, is an annual cycle sport, cycling road bicycle racing, road race in the Dauphiné region in the southeast of France. The race is run over eight days during ...

instead. Costa won the sixth stage of the race after being in the breakaway for most of the day, passing

Vincenzo Nibali Vincenzo Nibali (; born 14 November 1984) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2005 to 2022. He is one of seven cyclists who have won all three of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours i ...

near the finish line. A week before the

, Costa won the Portuguese National Road Race Championships. At the Tour de France he retired due to injuries picked up in a crash, leading him to announce he would ride for stage wins in the future.

2017

He was named in the start list for the 2017 Giro d'Italia.

Career achievements

Major results

Source: ;2007 : 1st Overall Giro delle Regioni ;2008 : 2nd Overall Giro delle Regioni ::1st Stage 4 : 2nd Overall Coupe des nations Ville Saguenay ::1st Stage 4 ( ITT) : 2nd Overall Tour de l'Avenir : UCI Under-23 Road World Championships ::5th Road race ::8th Time trial : 5th Overall Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas ;2009 (2 pro wins) : 1st Overall

::1st Young rider classification : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships : 3rd Overall Vuelta a Chihuahua ::1st Jersey polkadot

Mountains classification ::1st Stage 3 ;2010 (3) : 1st

Time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

, National Road Championships : 1st Trofeo Deià : 1st Stage 8 Tour de Suisse : 2nd Overall

::1st Young rider classification : 6th Overall Volta ao Algarve ;2011 (3) : 1st Overall Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid ::1st Points classification : 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 1st Stage 8

: 4th Overall Circuit de Lorraine ;2012 (2) : 1st Overall Tour de Suisse ::1st Stage 2 : 2nd GP Ouest–France : 2nd Trofeo Deià : 3rd Overall

: 3rd Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec : 4th

GP Miguel Induráin The Grand Prix Miguel Induráin (), formerly the "Grand Prix Navarre" is a Spanish one-day road bicycle race. History The race was inaugurated in 1951, but was limited to local competition. It was rebranded after Spanish cyclist Miguel Indurái ...

: 5th Overall Volta ao Algarve : 7th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes : 8th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 9th Overall Tour of Beijing : 10th

;2013 (8) : 1st Road race,

: 1st

, National Road Championships : 1st Overall Tour de Suisse ::1st Stages 7 & 9 ( ITT) : 1st

::1st Stages 16 & 19 :: Combativity award Stage 16 : 3rd Overall

: 4th Overall Tour of Beijing : 4th Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana : 5th Overall Volta ao Algarve : 5th Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec : 6th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 9th

: 9th

;2014 (2) : 1st Overall Tour de Suisse ::1st Stage 9 : 2nd

, National Road Championships : 2nd Overall

: 2nd Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 3rd Overall

: 3rd Overall Volta ao Algarve ::1st Points classification : 3rd

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia (), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Cycling monument, Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cycli ...

: 4th

: 4th Overall Tour of Beijing ;2015 (2) : 1st Road race, National Road Championships : 3rd Overall

::1st Stage 6 : 3rd Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 4th Overall

: 4th

: 4th Amstel Gold Race : 7th Overall Tour of the Basque Country : 9th

: 9th Road race,

;2016 : 3rd

: 5th Overall Tour of Oman : 6th Road race, UEC European Road Championships : 6th Overall

: 7th Overall Tour of the Basque Country : 7th Overall Tour de Suisse : 10th Road race,

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

: 10th Overall

: 10th

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. It is part of the UCI World Tour. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is ...

: Combativity award Stage 19

;2017 (3) : 1st Overall

Abu Dhabi Tour The Abu Dhabi Tour was a men's Road bicycle racing#Stage races, cycling stage race that took place in the United Arab Emirates, held annually between 2015 Abu Dhabi Tour, 2015 and 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, 2018. In 2019, the Abu Dhabi Tour merged with ...

::1st Stage 3 : 2nd Overall Tour of Oman : 5th Overall Tour de Suisse : 5th Overall

Vuelta a San Juan The Vuelta a San Juan is an annual road cycling stage race held in Argentine. Typically consisting of seven stages, beginning and ending in San Juan, the race was first held in 1982. In 2017, the race was classified as a 2.1 event by the Unio ...

::1st Stage 5 : 10th Overall

Tour de Pologne The Tour de Pologne (; ), officially abbreviated TdP, is an annual, professional men's Race stage, multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race primarily held in Poland. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km ...

;2018 : 5th Overall

: 6th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 8th Overall

: 10th Road race,

: 10th Overall Tour of Oman ;2019 : 2nd Overall

: 4th Overall Tour of Oman : 7th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 10th Road race,

: 10th Overall

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road bicycle racing, road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian Sea, Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of th ...

: 10th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana : 10th Overall Vuelta a Burgos ;2020 (2) : National Road Championships ::1st Road race ::2nd

: 3rd Overall

Saudi Tour The AlUla Tour, formerly known as the Saudi Tour and the Tour of Saudi Arabia, is an annual professional road bicycle racing race stage, stage race first held in Saudi Arabia in 1999. It has been held intermittently since its creation, and in 202 ...

::1st Stage 1 : 3rd Overall

Tour du Limousin Tour du Limousin is a 4-day road bicycle race held annually in Limousin, France. It was first held in 1968 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle raci ...

: 4th Overall Volta ao Algarve : 10th Overall

;2021 : 2nd

Grand Prix of Aargau Canton Grand Prix of Aargau Canton () is a semi classic European bicycle race held in Aargau canton, one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. The race consists of fifteen laps around the Swiss town of Gippingen, which belongs to the municipa ...

: 7th Overall Tour de Suisse ;2022 : 3rd Overall Tour of Oman : 3rd Overall

: 10th Overall

;2023 (5) : 1st Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana ::1st Stage 5 : 1st

Japan Cup The is one of the most prestigious horse races in Japan. It is contested on the last Sunday of November, post time of 15:40 at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo at a distance of 2400 meters (about miles) run under weight for age conditions with ...

: 1st Trofeo Calvià : 1st Stage 15

: 2nd La Drôme Classic : 4th

Strade Bianche The Strade Bianche (; ) is a road bicycle race in Tuscany, Central Italy, starting and finishing in Siena. First held in 2007, it is raced annually on the first or second Saturday of March. The name stems from the historic white gravel roads in ...

: 4th Figueira Champions Classic : 5th Gran Piemonte : 8th Clásica de San Sebastián : 9th Ardèche Classic : 10th Overall Volta ao Algarve ;2024 (1) : National Road Championships ::1st Road race ::3rd

: 6th Trofeo Calvià : 10th

;2025 : 5th Figueira Champions Classic

General classification results timeline

Classics results timeline

Major championships timeline

Awards

* Portuguese Sportsman of the Year (): 2012, 2013, 2014

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Rui 1986 births Living people Portuguese male cyclists Portuguese expatriate sportspeople Portuguese Tour de France stage winners Portuguese Vuelta a España stage winners Sportspeople from Póvoa de Varzim Cyclists from Porto District Tour de Suisse stage winners Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Portugal UCI Road World Champions (elite men) 2013 Tour de France stage winners 2011 Tour de France stage winners Cyclists at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen