Giro d’Italia contender João Almeida (UAE Group Emirates) didn’t flip the time trial of a lifetime on Sunday however the Portuguese racer stays very a lot part of the GC battle after ceding simply 35 seconds to stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
Ninth on the stage, Almeida is mendacity fifth at 1:07, and he was logically upbeat about his probabilities within the subsequent two weeks as he warmed down outdoors the UAE group bus.
Barring one yr when he needed to give up with COVID-19, Almeida has all the time been an element within the Giro d’Italia normal classification battle, with sixth total in 2021 his worst efficiency of three finishes.
Morale is so good that Almeida even joked that he did not really feel like he wanted the remainder day on Monday, in one more signal that he might nicely be up there within the Giro’s final two weeks.
“Total I feel it was fairly good, I misplaced slightly little bit of time on the corners which was a difficulty, and particularly within the first half I wasn’t so assured,” Almeida instructed Cyclingnews.
“However I did not lose a lot time to the opposite guys. In fact, I believed I could possibly be up there, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a protracted Giro and I’m in a very good place.”
Somewhat than go all out, his technique was to attempt to maintain management of his time trialling “and depart some fuel for the tip. Possibly I left an excessive amount of fuel in the long run and I ought to have began a bit quicker.”
On a course rendered far more tough because of the climate, by having lengthy straightaways the place riders constructed up excessive speeds earlier than tackling rain-soaked bends, Almeida defined that he “might have carried out higher on the corners, however I did not wish to take too many dangers. It is higher to be secure than sorry.”
The important thing reference level for Almeida, like all the opposite individuals, was Remco Evenepoel and the Portuguese rider got here away happy that he had not misplaced an excessive amount of time on the Belgian.
“What was it? 35 seconds, total that is fairly good. And we will solely get higher.”
The mountains are nonetheless a means off and subsequent up is a relaxation day. “Really, I do not really feel like I want one,” Almeida stated with a smile, earlier than including, “however they’re all the time welcome.”
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