If he can keep this level of form in stages 19 and 20 everything is possible. In the last itt he puts 1:30 to everyone that’s in front of him
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I think today at the Giro (Stage 17) was his best ride as a pro. He can climb.
Imagine everybody in front of him cracking and his first pro win being the Giro overall 
Definitely answered the biggest question about him as a potential GT winner today (big climbing performance on a real mountain stage late in a race).
Next is to show that he won't fall back over the remainder of the race, and then to chain 3 strong weeks together and make a serious challenge at a podium
Or to try and get him in pink for a week or so, to help Lefevere secure a title sponsor. Deceuninck won't renew.
Shameful *** either way.
He's becoming the kind of rider that might win a 4 weeks long GT
Meanwhile, he keeps raising his number of top-10 with no wins
Meanwhile, he keeps raising his number of top-10 with no wins
Lmao, those Portuguese nutcase fans were right all along.
What nutcase fans? All I see is some nutcase Belgian fans
This was an incredibly strong showing today, but I think some people need to get over him having to work for Evenepoel. If he continues like that he will get his own big wins, no doubt.
On another note, why on earth did he lose 4 minutes on stage 4 again? If that doesn't happen he likely doesn't get called back on the sterrato and loses another 2 minutes less. Because let's just say, if this guy was 6 minutes further up in the gc I'd be massively worried as Bernal right now.
He confirmed by himself that he forgot to eat (and I belive him looking at his later performances). When you're bonked you can do nothing more.
Don't forget about Zoncolan as well..
I'm disappointed that Almeida disappointed so much in the "most top10's without a win" competition during this Giro but at least he is trying to salvage the race in the 3rd week.
He's becoming Kruijswijk basically lol.
From what I've seen from him last year and in this Giro, he has a very important skill to become an excellent GT rider. Apart from his TT skills, he's shown he is a dog and doesn't fade easily. You can drop him, but he'll fight back. He is excellent in pacing himself and...wow, today's performance was something else. He was basically the best climber (with Yates and Martin) in the peloton today. I'm impressed.
PhiLiz
BANNED
This topic has just become so much better after I've looked back and read the comments that said he would never be a great climber.
He's just 22 years, it would be stupid to think that he never would be a great climber. He improved a lot in climbing skills since giro 2020, and there's other important thing, joao almeida just started to train in the high mountains in the last year. Before he go to quick step, he never climbed in the high mountains.
History will say Almeida should have been made the sole Leader for the 2021 Giro since day one
PhiLiz
BANNED
And remember that he didn't seem to struggle on gravel at all. This is equally important ability these days!
You actually don't need history for that...
Only a crazy DS would put a 21 years old kid, who has never ride a GT (3 weeks), who hasn't ride a single race for 8 months as the "de facto" leader of the team... that was complete nonsense!
The way he's able to pace himself on climbs really reminds me of Tom.
The true leader for DQS for this Giro without a doubt. Unfortunately the team !@#$ up good when they made Remco leader just before the start. Yeah he's a Belgian rider and with a Belgian team and sponsor you can't make a Portuguese rider who's contract would not be renewed the leader. But that's not what was "promised" . To make things worse they withdraw Almeida's free role when he had 1 bad day (something with bad eating). On the gravel ride you saw right away how strong he was and he seemed to make that clear to the team. I understand a team needs to make a decision and probably this was the best one on paper but sometimes you need to take risks and believe in the riders. They simplydid not.
Today Almeida was the fastest climber on that last climb. Totally unexpected for sure but he was and that must give him some extra confidence. With a TT to come and a few mountaints a top 5 is still possible. There is a bright future for this kid. His time will come.
Today Almeida was the fastest climber on that last climb. Totally unexpected for sure but he was and that must give him some extra confidence. With a TT to come and a few mountaints a top 5 is still possible. There is a bright future for this kid. His time will come.
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