João Almeida - Bota Lume

[pvieira91]

Calm down everybody. He is in third place, at just 30 seconds. The real giro starts tomorrow, and he will in the giro. It´s a spoiler, remember that.

I am with you on that. The only rival is Carapaz.

 

[rm2021]

I am with you on that. The only rival is Carapaz.

If hindley from piancavallo appears in this third week, he will be better than carapaz.

 

[pvieira91]

If hindley from piancavallo appears in this third week, he will be better than carapaz.

On this year Catalunya Tour and UAE Tour João did better than Hindley.

 

[groogster]

On this year Catalunya Tour and UAE Tour João did better than Hindley.

That doesn’t mean anything, different parts of the season, different forms. At this level being at peak form or not makes all the difference. With both at their peaks imo they are very close tier, with Almeida stronger at itt and Hindley maybe a little better climbing. Besides at Catalunya Hindley was working as a domestique for Higuita at some point.
Having all said Hindley was only better at this Giro at stage 14 because at Blockhaus he wasn’t stronger than Almeida, quite the opposite, he was wheelsucking Almeida while he was alone closing the gap so he had the extra strength to the final sprint where he won. If it wasn’t for Almeida at first place he probably wouldn’t catch the front guys.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Random, but I have to admit he’s a better rider than I thought he would be, probably because of my bias for Remco. Didn’t think he was really a GT podium guy.

Expectations for Almeida were quite high when he was 18-19 or so. But he had an underwhelming period at Hagens Berman Axeon and that brought those expectations down. I remember in 2019 he had some really poor results (Course de la Paix, Coppi/Bartali...), after having finished podium on the baby Giro and top 10 in Avenir the year before.

 

[groogster]

If hindley from piancavallo appears in this third week, he will be better than carapaz.

maybe someday he can be better than Carapaz. Despite looking very sharp he isn’t at Carapaz level yet. But the road will tell in the next days. One thing is for certain, he is proving that 2020 Giro wasn’t a fluke and the riders level wasn’t so bad after all, all in all we have atm 2 young riders from that Giro edition in 2nd and 3rd place.

 

[groogster]

Expectations for Almeida were quite high when he was 18-19 or so. But he had an underwhelming period at Hagens Berman Axeon and that brought those expectations down. I remember in 2019 he had some really poor results (Course de la Paix, Coppi/Bartali...), after having finished podium on the baby Giro and top 10 in Avenir the year before.

true and as a side note if I remember correctly at that Baby Giro he was 2nd in final GC just behind Vlasov for a few seconds and didn’t win it just because he crashed.

 

[SafeBet]

Well, if you wish to be even more confused, he gave and interview today and said this regarding to saturday:

"I consider myself a good descender, but it was a very dangerous descent and I made a mistake or two while following Pozzovivo, because there were some potholes on the road."

Assalto à Rosa: João Almeida - Portuguese Cycling Magazine

João Almeida está na luta pela vitória no Giro d’Italia, ao mesmo tempo que enverga a camisola branca da juventude. Recordamos que à partida para a 8ª etapa deste Giro, João Almeida deixou uma mensagem aos adeptos portugueses em que declarou que o seu objetivo principal era o pódio final. Cerca...

portuguesecyclingmagazine.com

So he's a good descender when he's on Zwift.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

So, his descending skills have considerably improved overnight. Maybe a matter for the clinic?

Anyway, I really enjoy watching this man ride. He's got an obstinate, stubborn way of undropping himself every time it seems like he's finally getting distanced for good that I find very endearing.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Absolute legend, my favorite rider in the Peleton right now. He's like a weed smoking Ullrich regen, always cheerful in interviews, just smoothly dieseling along no matter the circumstances, no matter how many attacks there are or how *** his team is.
He's probably still confused why there the metric "normalized power" even exists - for him it's the same as average power anyway!

 

[pvieira91]

João can't lose more time if we wants to keep alive the dream of winning the giro. Ideally, he should attack in one of the upcoming mountain stages. Hindley seems the strongest by far, but everyone can have a bad day. Even Bernal last year had a bad day.

 

[noob]

"Yeah I gave everything I had, I was feeling good... and yeah they were the stronger and I'm super happy with it and I can do nothing about it so I'm happy".

I wish I had this philosophy of life in general

 

[Peyroteo94]

He isn't good enough to win il giro. Unfortunately there is Ayuso who will target a GT next year.

 

[Elos Anjos]

He isn't good enough to win il giro. Unfortunately there is Ayuso who will target a GT next year.

Nonsense. The Giro design varies each year. One can imagine a more suitable route for Almeida.

 

[groogster]

He isn't good enough to win il giro. Unfortunately there is Ayuso who will target a GT next year.

Ai ai… absolute nonsense here

 

[Netserk]

If he can climb as consistently well in the Vuelta, he will contend for the win there. He will be 3rd-5th here in the Giro, likely to beat Landa for the last podium spot.

 

[noob]

If he can climb as consistently well in the Vuelta, he will contend for the win there. He will be 3rd-5th here in the Giro, likely to beat Landa for the last podium spot.

Winning over Roglic and his own teammate Pogacar? No way :O

 

[Victor S]

I wonder how good pogacar will be after the Tour. But you are probably right, still... he could go for a top-5 there.

Today it was good to see he can descend and who know he has one super day this week, he only needs one right?

 

[Red Rick]

If he can climb as consistently well in the Vuelta, he will contend for the win there. He will be 3rd-5th here in the Giro, likely to beat Landa for the last podium spot.

This climbing level in the Vuelta? Nah.

 

[Cookster15]

If he can climb as consistently well in the Vuelta, he will contend for the win there. He will be 3rd-5th here in the Giro, likely to beat Landa for the last podium spot.

Logically Almeida will leak more time before the TT. But he was very impressive today. If he survives stage 17 you might wish to reassess.

 

[Pistolas]

Logically Almeida will leak more time before the TT. But he was very impressive today. If he survives stage 17 you might wish to reassess.

He will try to attack at some point, when they least expect or when one of the other 3 shows weekness. Not sure if he will be able to gain time, he is still one level down to Carapaz and Hindley.

 

[Extinction]

He will try to attack at some point, when they least expect or when one of the other 3 shows weekness. Not sure if he will be able to gain time, he is still one level down to Carapaz and Hindley.

He thrashes himself, but doesn't have those extra watts when needed to make the difference. However, his pacing is commendable and what if the others have a sans jour?

 

[KZD]

Almeida's engine is very impressive, he will most likely podium or even win this if the others have a bad day. Tomorrow stage can actually be pretty good for him with the 'flat' finish and no altittude.

 

[Pistolas]

He thrashes himself, but doesn't have those extra watts when needed to make the difference. However, his pacing is commendable and what if the others have a sans jour?

What we saw last year is that he attacks setting a stronger tempo and its hard for him to set a gap. Last year he was free to this, but now they will respond at the moment. I agree he needs the others to have a bad day to win (except Landa).

 

[rm2021]

This climbing level in the Vuelta? Nah.

Go check the watts they did today. Unbeliavable. High level.