José Bento Pessoa (7 March 1874, in Figueira da Foz – 7 July 1954, in Lisbon)[1] was a Portuguese cyclist.

From 1892 to 1905, with a break from 1902 to 1905, Pessoa raced in Spain; Paris; Ghent, Belgium; Geneva, Switzerland; Turin, Italy; Berlin; and Pará, Brazil.

[4] In May 1897, at the inauguration of the Chamartín velodrome in Madrid, he won the international competition and beat the world record of the 500 meters, which belonged to Edmond Jacquelin, lowering the time from 34.6 to 33.2 seconds.

When the news of the victories came to his land, the enthusiasm of the figueirenses spread in noisy and festive manifestations: the philharmonic came out, the facade of the Prince Theater illuminated, there were marches, au flambeaux - a madness.

This happened, for example, when, shortly after the defeat of Bento Pessoa, at the feasts of St. John of 1901, he returned from Oporto, where he had twice overthrown José Dionísio at the Velodrome Maria Amélia.