He was discovered by the sport when Sporting Club Portugal's cycling team went to train near Casalinhos de Alfaiata - Torres Vedras, Agostinho's birthplace and home. The cycling team encountered Agostinho on the same road he was using. Agostinho began an impromptu race with them; the trained cyclists did not catch him, even though they were using lightweight racing bicycles, while Agostinho rode a standard model steel bicycle.
Agostinho was several times Portuguese champion and a consistent leader in both the Spanish and French tours.
He died in 1984 after a racing accident, because he didn't like to wear a helmet, and also because he was racing in Algarve in the south of Portugal, and the closest hospital was in Lisbon, 400 km from the place of the accident.