João Almeida (UAE) ended this Thursday the 18th stage of the return to Spain, a 12.2km counter-time in Valladolid, in third position, reducing within ten seconds the difference it has for the leader of the overall classification, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma), when three stages to the end of the competition are missing.
In a counter-meal that initially had the 27.2km extension but which was reduced to 12.2km for safety reasons (related to protests against the presence of an Israelite team in the platoon that have happened in this edition of Vuelta), the Portuguese fulfilled the distance in just eight seconds than Italian Filippo Ganna (Ineos), winner of the right 13 minutes.
João Almeida, who was harmed by the reduction of the initial extension of the counter-time, was still able to “steal” ten seconds to Jonas Vingegaard, ninth best of the stage, with 18 seconds than the Italian.
The Portuguese began to earn time to its most direct opponent. Almeida spent at the first intermediate point with just a second delay for the best time – Sander’s 4m43s of Pestel (Decathlon AG2R), but already had two seconds of advantage over Vingegaard.
In the second intermediate point, João Almeida moved a little more from the fastest of the day but earned three seconds to the direct opponent: Jonas Vingegaard. And the superiority of Portuguese was increasing until it reached 10 seconds over the goal line, leaving the unknown of how long it could have been won by Almeida if the counter-meal had kept its original distance.
Pity that they were not 27km
The situation was commented by by the end of the tirada and the Portuguese did not hide its disappointment. “I did the best I could. It’s a pity that it wasn’t 27 kilometers, but it’s what it is,” Almeida began to say to Eurosport microphones. “If it was the complete counter-time? We will never know, life is made of ‘ses’, we can’t think about it very much. We can be very pleased with the result. I felt very strong. The scenario is the same for everyone.”
About the future, the Portuguese discourse remained: “My way of thinking is the same from day one. We do the best we can every day, sometimes we have good days, sometimes we have bad days. It’s the same for everyone. We have to be focused and do our best. It’s all we can do, control what we can control.”
In the overall classification, Vingegaard has now been 40 seconds of advance over Almeida and 2m39s over Briton Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5), third.
Also highlighting the other Portuguese in race, Ivo Oliveira (UAE), who performed an excellent counter-time, finishing the stage in fifth place (13m11s).
On Friday, it runs the 19th and previous last stage of the 80th edition of Vuelta, between Rueda and Guijelo.
