Oceana Zarco
Oceana Zarco (12 April 191111 January 2008) was the first professional female cyclist in Portugal. Oceana Rosa de Sousa Zarco was born on 12 April 1911 in the parish of Santa Maria da Graça in Setúbal, Portugal. Her stepfather, João Duarte, owned a bicycle shop in Setúbal and encouraged her to ride, despite the fact that this was a very unusual activity for girls and women in Portugal at that time, as were most sports. By the age of 7 she was already cycling to school. At the age of 10 she joined the cycling team at the sports club of Vitória de Setúbal and, using a boy's bicycle, began to train and compete with boys. Zarco became a professional in 1925 at the age of 14, registering with the ''Federação Portuguesa de Ciclismo'' as Number 227. She continued to use a men's bicycle, wore shorts together with a shirt in the distinctive green and white stripes of her club, and cut her hair short. In 1924 the first women's "Tour of Lisbon" cycling race was held, with just thre ...
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