If Evenepoel wins a GT in two years, at 24 years old, he will still be one of the youngest GT of modern times. It doesn’t matter if he joined the WT at 19, his body will still develop at about the same pace as everyone else’s.
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If Evenepoel wins a GT in two years, at 24 years old, he will still be one of the youngest GT of modern times. It doesn’t matter if he joined the WT at 19, his body will still develop at about the same pace as everyone else’s.
39 seconds is quite a lot on a climb like Fedaia, and with how fast they blasted the first part it could easily be most riders went over their limit, which is why gaps were so big.
Pogacar is said to ride the Vuelta. So would he be a protected rider, or a domestique?
It's a lot less than Carapaz who totally collapsed. I think while Almeida would've paced it well at best he'd be on Landas time, more likely behind by another 20-30 seconds.
Landa lost 49 seconds to Hindley on Fedaia:
| 1 | COVI Alessandro | UAE Team Emirates | 100 | 80 | 13″ | 4:46:34 |
| 2 | NOVAK Domen | Bahrain - Victorious | 40 | 50 | 6″ | 0:32 |
| 3 | CICCONE Giulio | Trek - Segafredo | 20 | 35 | 5″ | 0:37 |
| 4 | PEDRERO Antonio | Movistar Team | 12 | 25 | 1:36 | |
| 5 | ARENSMAN Thymen | Team DSM | 4 | 18 | 2″ | 1:50 |
| 6 | HINDLEY Jai | BORA - hansgrohe | 15 | 2:30 | ||
| 7 | LEEMREIZE Gijs | Jumbo-Visma | 12 | 3:04 | ||
| 8 | CARTHY Hugh | EF Education-EasyPost | 10 | 3:19 | ||
| 9 | LANDA Mikel | Bahrain - Victorious | 8 | ,, | ||
| 10 | KÄMNA Lennard | BORA - hansgrohe | 6 | 3:39 | ||
| 11 | CARAPAZ Richard | INEOS Grenadiers | 5 | 3:58 |
Even if he goes has a domestique, which I think it will happen, he will do his usual climb pacing trick until Poga decides to attack and destroy everyone.
He's very likely to finish in the top 10.
Yeah.
In hindsight though, Landa's TT was meme levels of bad and he could've shipped 1'30 there
Yes.
My guess is that the road will decide Almeida’s fate. If he's close in GC he'll be used as a threat attacker. But if he's further down he'll be a regular mountain domestique.
In all honesty though; doing a GT as a mountain domestique is probably not a bad way to improve climbing skills? I'd be curious how he'd do compared to for example Kuss and Martinez in similar roles.
I'd guess top 10 depending on the field.
I am not convinced that vuelta suits him better than the giro...
It will mainly depend on what happens at the Tour and with the form Pogacar shows at the Vuelta.
Lol, Martinez will lead Ineos, not be domestique. He is their clear best rider this year in terms of GC
Wtf are you talking about?! He´s just 23 years old. Forget about pogacar. Who's better than him grand tours with less than 23 years?! He´s got already two top 10 at the giro.
The potential is high, give him time. And covid probably make difference in his perfomances.
He´s to well paid to just be pogacar´s domestique in the next 5 years.
I know Martinez this year is in a leading role. I mean how he has done when helping Bernal. I am talking about how someone handles GC when still on domestique duties which is the role he had giro 2021
I'm going to still give Almeida a grade of "incomplete" for this Giro. Yes, he'd lost a bit of time, and in hindsight probably wouldn't have been able to make up 1'30" to Hindley in the TT, but we don't know when he started feeling the effects of covid. At worst, barring a complete collapse, he probably would have been 4th. That's not bad for UAE, which until this year hasn't had a legit podium GC threat during the Pogacar era.
I don't see any reason he won't be a Top 5 threat in at least the Vuelta/Giro for the foreseeable future, with some potential upside and on the right course could easily be on the podium.
Elos Anjos
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Almeida would most likely podium. He snapped due to covid related issues and still managed to loose only 10s on a climb (stage 17) against three climbers that were working together. Additionaly, Landa's TT was terrible when he would be more motivated to get a 2nd place rather than defending another 3rd spot.
If supported by a different team regarding both 1) quality (what the hell is Formolo doing there anyway??...what a troll) and 2) tactics (Bora was actually the best managed team although INEOS was stronger on paper) I would say he has a bright future.
He is certainly no monster like Pogacar, Contador or Giro 2018 Froome that win GTs all by themselves, but he doesn't have to.
If supported by a different team regarding both 1) quality (what the hell is Formolo doing there anyway??...what a troll) and 2) tactics (Bora was actually the best managed team although INEOS was stronger on paper) I would say he has a bright future.
He is certainly no monster like Pogacar, Contador or Giro 2018 Froome that win GTs all by themselves, but he doesn't have to.
Just noticed this. Seems he was cheering for Covi writing on twitter in real time. He's so rarely on twitter nowadays that I hadn't even checked his twitter accounts.
Why wouldn't he? They're good friends.
I don't know why the common perception on this forum is that UAE are just a bunch of arrogants kids doing their own thing. It seems like the Almeida fans want to antagonize his teammates for no reason at all.
One of the most cheerful, dependable, team oriented riders in the bunch is now a troll... sometimes I wonder if I'm living in a different world.
Most of them only started to watch cycling when João got the pink jersey in 2020. They know nothing about cycling, so they write stupid stuff. Even if João had Pogacar working for him, it wouldn't be good enough.
To make things worst, we have the portuguese Eurosport commentators also saying stupid stuff. For instance, I'm watching the alpes-maritimes right now and they're talking about Almeida and how the team wasn't good enough.
Elos Anjos
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It's common sense that UAE tactics are shatters not because of the particular case with João Almeida but just because Pogacar almost doesn't need any team tactics.
I'm sure Formolo is a great guy but what I saw of him was failing at getting stage wins and in the process getting tired to be of any help. Even if it was the DS choice or his, remains to be seen but it was not clever or remarkable for a team centered on supporting any GT rider.
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Elos Anjos
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Being a portuguese does not grant you being a speaker for all the portuguese fans.
Eurosport is a case in point. Although they blabber a lot of nonsensical moronic stuff (even before Almeida's Giro in 2020), not all of them do. Some were even professional riders. But I guess they should listen to your unbiased opinion...
For two years i've heard nothing but how he and Evenepoel hate each other, but for some reason they keep commenting on each other's social media in a supportive way.
As it was (his team wasn't good enough).
It was sub-par team for the job at hand. Pogi deffo wouldn't enter Giro with that team and so shouldn't Almeida. Marginals are and were small as we saw and small mistakes plus tiny slack cumulates along the race. Well bad luck above all that Covid, but this is how it is. UAE team was clearly behind Bora, Ineos and Bahrain.
Comparing Pogacar with Almeida is ridiculous. Of course they wouldn't get the same team, they are at completely different levels. Pogacar is at a level where he can request whatever he likes, Almeida not so much.
The team wasn't the best, but it wasn't horrible. The biggest problem was the lack of legs on some stages from Formolo and Covi, but a better team wouldn't make him place better then he already was before quitting.
And just because Zé Azevedo and Paulo Martins were professional cyclists, doesn't mean they are right in everything they say.
The team wasn't the best, but it wasn't horrible. The biggest problem was the lack of legs on some stages from Formolo and Covi, but a better team wouldn't make him place better then he already was before quitting.
And just because Zé Azevedo and Paulo Martins were professional cyclists, doesn't mean they are right in everything they say.
Elos Anjos
BANNED
You didn't get my point. I was not comparing Pogacar or Almeida as GC riders to then conclude that they disearve the same team. I was comparing them in order to show that UAE tactics generally suck but they don't show off in one case because Pogacar is a freak. Almeida has more shortcomings so the lack of team tactics becomes more obvious in his case.
You claim Bora was the best managed team in the Giro. What was their strategy? Send a man in the break in almost any meaningful stage. Kamna won a stage AND was instrumental for Hindley's attack on Fedaia.
UAE did the same thing but you claim their tactics were bad...
The problem of UAE was not tactics. Having a man in the break is a very sensible strategy for a GC team, especially if your leader is Joao Almeida, a rider who doesn't need a teammate around him to pace him uphill. The problem was evidently am imperfect shape by some of the domestiques and, possibly, the lack of a high level climber as a domestique. But UAE is not Ineos and not even Bahrain. There is not an infinite amount of high level climbers to select from in that roster.
Btw Pogacar won the 2020 TDF with this team: Polanc, De la Cruz, Formolo (went home after one week), Aru (dropped on the flat and DNF), Laengen, Marcato, Kristoff. And Pogacar started that Tour after a podium in the Vuelta, so his level was already clear.
UAE has clearly improved as a team since then, but check their current roster. If you remove a few domestiques who will start the Tour with Pog (and there is no doubt Pog is the absolute priority for this team) then there is not that much talent climbing wise.
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