João Almeida - Bota Lume

[Bonimenier]

Another step closer to the top 10 for Almeida after Buchmann unfortunately had to abandon.

 

[ExperienPT]

While he did lose minutes on the Stelvio last year, he was still 4th behind the podium finishers on the other two important mountain stages to Piancavallo and Sestriere.
These are amazing results for someone who apparently isn't a good climber at all.

On his 1st GT, neo pro year, and after hold the pink for 2 weeks at 21 yrs old, but "oh no he is bad and climbs bad and..."

 

[Cian]

On his 1st GT, neo pro year, and after hold the pink for 2 weeks at 21 yrs old, but "oh no he is bad and climbs bad and..."

I think you've misunderstood. I'm trying to say he is a very good climber.

 

[Panda Claws]

When Almeida lost 4 minutes, he dropped at the same time as Foss who lost only 1.30, he was desolate cause the team has clearly abandoned him, and he kinda give up on that stage, he finished without any struggling face (ok not a smart move, but understandable).

And why did the team gave up on him?

Because the belgian prodigy wanted to be the only leader, and it was easier to make Almeida work if he was out of GC contention. I think they loved Almeida dropping that day, he solved them a problem (or they thought so at the time), but the belgian prodigy was not in shape (mentally and physically, ohhh what a surprise) and now is being shamed by Almeida, stage after stage, showing everyone how weak and far away he is from the old Remco, maybe that old Remco is "no more" for good, or maybe until the end of the year he will be kicking ass, but for now he is out of it!

Are you going to spin Almeida dropping at same time as Foss and losing 4 minutes instead of 1.30 as not being a problem and just being because the team did not help him? If anyrhing that just tells you just how hard he cracked there.

Even if QST Found it easier to work with one leader you can't blame them for Almeida going backwards there. Either he cracked far too hard far too early or he did not try at all. Either option is unacceptable if you want to be GC leader.

I also wouldn't buy any notion of him getting bullied into freewheeling there considering how he has talked in interview since. Confident and a bit spiteful.

On his 1st GT, neo pro year, and after hold the pink for 2 weeks at 21 yrs old, but "oh no he is bad and climbs bad and..."

While his Giro was good he was also a Massive benefactor of the above average amount of TT and what was likely not a great climbing field. The fact that he gained so much time in the TT yet was quite far back in the GC only tells you that his climbing really was not up there. Him holding pink is also a direct result of the TT's being there.

It was an impressive Giro but a lot of what happened was very particular to that GT and cannot be expected to be replicable in others. It's a 4th place and 21 days in pink that would Translate to 7th and 0 days in pink in the average Giro imo. Edit: Actually he might still have held pink for some time but point is just that last year was a pretty special case.


I've always thought it was a good idea to keep Almeida as co-leader because I saw him as a more-or-less certainty for top-10 and Evenepoel was an unknown. But when he cracked so hard so early there was just no way. It is possible that this was purely bad luck (if Almeida happened to have a complete off-day) since it happened before Evenepoel got in trouble. But even so QST basically had to decide then and there: do we go for top-10 with Almeida if it was really just An off-day or do we hope that Evenepoel can do actual damage here. Doing it differently would also go against what was decided before the Giro: namely that they would work for the best placed rider.

 

[pvieira91]

Those 10 minutes might have put him over the edge, after a hard day that had him push his limits. Especially since the race wasn't over after those 10 minutes. The context was implied, i assumed you knew the race lasted longer than 10 minutes. You think van Aert and van der Poel can't do a 30k solo? It's not "just" that effort, it's that effort on top of racing on the edge day after day. And you may laugh at it, no problem. I'm pretty sure had Evenepoel had better support that day, hadn't Almeida dawdled like he did before helping, that Evenepoel wouldn't have gone so deep, maybe they could even have bridged the gap to the favorites group, we 'll never know. In any case, we can be sure he would have lost less time, which also means Almeida would have lost less time. So whether or not you think there is any merit in the hypothesis that that effort cost Evenepoel a better result on Zoncolan, the fact is that Almeida himself would have been closer to his coveted top 10 than he is now. And that's basically his own fault.


Let's say, by that time that Almeida has (nearly) caught Evenepoel and is just as likely to get into the top 10, or if Almeida could go for a stagewin, then i don't think they should ask Almeida to help. If there is nothing left to gain for Almeida (no stage, no top 10) and Evenepoel has something to fight for, then sure.

You should rename your username to "logic is not my friend, remco fan boy here".
God.. You're always trying to underrate João and overrate Remco. When Remco loses time is due to his bad technique even when he says that he was "empty".

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

You should rename your username to "logic is not my friend, remco fan boy here".
God.. You're always trying to underrate João and overrate Remco. When Remco loses time is due to his bad technique even when he says that he was "empty".

I'm a big Remco fan, and i'm a moderate João fan as well actually. I also hope you're aware we can all see your post history and account info. So i might not want to pull the "fanboy" card if i were you.

Maybe you should read all my posts about Almeida. And maybe you should try and use your head. Evenepoel said he had bad legs. He didn't say why he had bad legs. In the meantime, his trainer, his teammate and his sports director, as well as analysts have said the same as i have said; Evenepoel burned energy, because he has bad off-road skills. But obviously this doesn't fit your agenda, since half the posts you've made so far, have been to deny that fact. If you have to slow down every time the road goes downhill or you're afraid at every bend, you lose places or you get a gap, and you have to make up for that every time. You can do that for a while, but you can't keep doing that without paying the price, and that's what happened. And had Almeida been there, as agreed, the situation would not have gotten that bad, both would have wasted less energy, and both would have lost less time in GC.

 

[PalcMora]

I guess the main point here would be the big mistake Quickstep made by putting Remco and Almeida in theory as co-leaders for this GT.
Remco was a phenomenon before his injury and should obviously be the natural team leader had the accident not happened.
Unfortunately it did happen and believing that he would arrive from it and place at least a top5 on a 3 weeks GT (which was a first for him) after coming from that severe injury without a single racing day is totally nonsense...

Not only this, but the way Quickstep managed this whole situation internally was a totally disaster... Almeida was the leader until a couple of weeks before the Giro started, but when he decided not to renew with them, Quickstep had a huge problem in hands...
They decided to opt for the "co-leaders policy" but, in practice, it was clear Remco was the "de-facto" leader.

With this, they end up destroying both riders: they manage to mess with Almeida's head as he was obviously felling the farce he had been placed at while Remco had an inhuman pressure placed on top of his shoulders...

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I guess the main point here would be the big mistake Quickstep made by putting Remco and Almeida in theory as co-leaders for this GT.
Remco was a phenomenon before his injury and should obviously be the natural team leader had the accident not happened.
Unfortunately it did happen and believing that he would arrive from it and place at least a top5 on a 3 weeks GT (which was a first for him) after coming from that severe injury without a single racing day is totally nonsense...

Not only this, but the way Quickstep managed this whole situation internally was a totally disaster... Almeida was the leader until a couple of weeks before the Giro started, but when he decided not to renew with them, Quickstep had a huge problem in hands...
They decided to opt for the "co-leaders policy" but, in practice, it was clear Remco was the "de-facto" leader.

With this, they end up destroying both riders: they manage to mess with Almeida's head as he was obviously felling the farce he had been placed at while Remco had an inhuman pressure placed on top of his shoulders...

Yup. Pretty close to how i see it, except for, the biggest problem being:

1/ the Giro squad sucks.
Had especially Knox, Masnada and Honoré been able to perform adequately or step up (in Honoré's case) we wouldn't have been having this circle jerk for the past 5 or 10 pages. Knox could have stayed with Almeida when he suffered in stage 4. Almeida wouldn't have needed to stay with Evenepoel in stage 11 and 14, someone else could. Evenepoel would maybe be a minute closer in GC, Almeida might be 3 minutes closer in GC. Both could be in the top 10, and have wasted less energy doing so.

2/ the team has neglected to work on Evenepoel's shortcomings.
I've been saying it since they signed him, but they knew he'd only raced for 18 months before turning pro, and most of it 5 minutes ahead of the peloton. He lacked bikehandling skills, descending skills, couldn't ride in the peloton... His crash was a direct result of that. Then they failed to monitor him, making his injury worse, which is the reason why he still isn't at his normal level. And still their neglect is paying dividends. Evenepoel still can't descend (it's actually gotten worse) and still he lacks the skills to ride on gravel.

Without those two issues, there would not have been a problem. In a perfect world, Evenepoel wouldn't have crashed, would not have those shortcomings, he'd been the clear leader, and Almeida would have been a protected rider. Both could have gone for GC, and both would have had solid support and wouldn't have needed to blow their own chances for each other. And Almeida might possibly have renewed his contract as well.

 

[gregrowlerson]

My new Klöden <3

Hey, just remembered that I started this thread; not sure why.

This was a slow burn.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Actually nah, I was merely the first responder.

Anyway, this thread is more interesting than this Giro television coverage.

 

[Eclipse]

As ever an incredible display of fighting spirit.

Did not see him coming in with the leaders when the break was caught so early

 

[pvieira91]

As ever an incredible display of fighting spirit.

Did not see him coming in with the leaders when the break was caught so early

Absolutely! Incredible!

 

[Lefebre]

Should be wanting for Remco, Uncle Pat is furious right now...

 

[roundabout]

Almeida is the best in the world at pacing himself .

 

[Bonimenier]

He'll definitely try again later this Giro, but with the time he is behind I feel like there always will be some team chasing.

 

[Froome]

Finally Almeida is free!

 

[carolina]

Should we update the title to "The João Almeida is the next Remco Evenepoel thread"?

 

[SafeBet]

Almeida is the best in the world at pacing himself .

Reminds me of prime Dumoulin. He always rides within his limits.
Those 5 minutes he lost in Sestola were really odd.

 

[Bonimenier]

Reminds me of prime Dumoulin. He always rides within his limits.
Those 5 minutes he lost in Sestola were really odd.

He would probably have lost less time in Sestola if he paced himself instead of Serry and Knox pacing him.

 

[Eclipse]

He'll definitely try again later this Giro, but with the time he is behind I feel like there always will be some team chasing.

If he's able to sustainably manage his effort like today so that even if the break is caught he can hang on he might as well gamble it now. Top 10 is basically a lock but he could still skip up a a few more places to something really rather respectable before everything is done and dusted if he gets in something that sticks.

 

[Bonimenier]

If he's able to sustainably manage his effort like today so that even if the break is caught he can hang on he might as well gamble it now. Top 10 is basically a lock but he could still skip up a a few more places to something really rather respectable before everything is done and dusted if he gets in something that sticks.

I agree, but it would be nice to see him winning for once.

 

[Valanga]

When Almeida lost 4 minutes, he dropped at the same time as Foss who lost only 1.30, he was desolate cause the team has clearly abandoned him, and he kinda give up on that stage, he finished without any struggling face (ok not a smart move, but understandable).

Why didn't he just stay with Foss then?

He finished together with Knox and Serry btw, they did not give up on him in stage 4...

 

[Parrulo]

I think stage 4 was just the perfect storm for him to lose time.

He had a bad day, mixed with everything that is happening inside the team and he probably just couldn't handle it mentally.

If he keeps like this he will make the top 10 but I don't see him climbing any more places due to the time diferences.

 

[Bolder]

Today was a seriously impressive ride. It was actually a performance I was expecting from Remco. The larger question remains, though, as to what kind of race Almeida will excel at. I'm not yet convinced he can ride the high mountains at the sharp end , but with his TT skills and lack of real weaknesses he's probably got a lot of GT Top 5s in him. With a full team (Bora?) behind him, possibly a podium.

And he strikes me as the kind of rider who can improve, so with perhaps a different approach to training he's got a GT win in him at some point.

 

[pvieira91]

I think stage 4 was just the perfect storm for him to lose time.

He had a bad day, mixed with everything that is happening inside the team and he probably just couldn't handle it mentally.

If he keeps like this he will make the top 10 but I don't see him climbing any more places due to the time diferences.

He can recover more time in TT but we still have big mountains ahead so we never know... He lost a huge amount of energy in the breakaway and then he found the energy to keep the pace when got caught. Chapeau