João Almeida - Bota Lume

[noob]

A bit surprised to see Tireno on his list. Are they riding for McNulty there?

 

[tobydawq]

A bit surprised to see Tireno on his list. Are they riding for McNulty there?

Why on Earth would they ride for McNulty over Almeida?

 

[noob]

Why on Earth would they ride for McNulty over Almeida?

I mixed it up I think. I thought in Paris - Nice McNulty was better than Almeida, but seems he just won a stage, but Almeida was still better in GC in the end. I see too much podcasts and commentators favoring McNulty over Almeida in shorter stage races/one day races, so I guess I'm brainwashed

 

[Elos Anjos]

I mixed it up I think. I thought in Paris - Nice McNulty was better than Almeida, but seems he just won a stage, but Almeida was still better in GC in the end. I see too much podcasts and commentators favoring McNulty over Almeida in shorter stage races/one day races, so I guess I'm brainwashed

Probably because English written media have a bias towards their native speakers

 

[noob]

Probably because English written media have a bias towards their native speakers

Maybe. I've not thought about it that way. I've just seen McNulty hyped a bit. Maybe since Tokyo Olympics in particular?

Oh well let's see how Almeida does today

 

[carolina]

Well, this was incredibly disappointing. Still going backwards on the TT bike.

 

[groogster]

Well, this was incredibly disappointing. Still going backwards on the TT bike.

Same as last year. Probably related to his new focus on preparation for long efforts at altitude and perhaps UAE not being as good as QS with the TT bike setups. This year Giro with that focus on TT will be catastrophic for Almeida GC Hopes. He would be better at TDF.

 

[noob]

Mechanical of some sort, no?

 

[carolina]

Knowing the amount of TT in the Giro, I was hoping the team had him focus on improving the time trial.

 

[Red Rick]

Beating Rog and Evenepoel was always more contingent on beating them on the big climbs anyway.

 

[groogster]

Knowing the amount of TT in the Giro, I was hoping the team had him focus on improving the time trial.

Me to but for now it doesn’t seem that way! Since leaving QS always underperforming at iTT and if he doesn’t improve dramatically he won’t be anywhere near to grab a podium at the next giro

 

[noob]

So has there been any interviews/comments in Portugal after the race that explained what happened during the ITT?

 

[carolina]

João Almeida: «Houve um erro de comunicação com o carro. Termino descontente»

'O objetivo era estar, pelo menos, no pódio. É assim o ciclismo. Há que ver o lado positivo: não tive quedas e a forma está bastante boa', referiu ainda.

www.record.pt

Yes, he said there was a miscommunication with the car and he could have managed his effort better during the ITT.
Overall, he is happy with the race he did.

 

[Andy schleck]

João Almeida: «Houve um erro de comunicação com o carro. Termino descontente»

'O objetivo era estar, pelo menos, no pódio. É assim o ciclismo. Há que ver o lado positivo: não tive quedas e a forma está bastante boa', referiu ainda.

www.record.pt

Yes, he said there was a miscommunication with the car and he could have managed his effort better during the ITT.
Overall, he is happy with the race he did.

Ridiculous excuses. He is not better at UAE than it was at quickstep. It was a mistake. He should have stayed at quickstep.
He can't improve.

The only positive factor, is the salary at UAE.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I was disappointed that he left QS, but i feel his manager played a decisive role there. Whether or not he should have stayed at Quick-Step, is one thing, but now i think we can start saying that moving to UAE was not a good idea. Maybe he should have gone to Ineos.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Giro should be a nice benchmark. If he progressed or regressed over at UAE. AFAIK he is motivated this year to do good. So fingers crossed he will be able to do that. Especially as last year he had to abandon due to Corona issues.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Giro should be a nice benchmark. If he progressed or regressed over at UAE. AFAIK he is motivated this year to do good. So fingers crossed he will be able to do that. Especially as last year he had to abandon due to Corona issues.

He finished 9th in Algarve in his first 2 months at Quick Step, when he was 21 years old, while working for Evenepoel, at 1m40s in GC.
He finished 6th in Algarve after 14 months at UAE, being 24 years old, while riding his own race, at 40s from Martinez in GC.
While the guy who was destined to take his place at QuickStep, finished on the podium.

We'll see at the Giro, but so far he doesn't seem to have taken many steps since the past 3 years. He'll need to finish on the podium at the very least to do better, and to really talk about progressing, he should be a contender for the win. Because going from 4th to 3rd at his age, doesn't mean much and could just be down to maturing and experience, not so much the team helping him improve.

 

[carolina]

Ridiculous excuses. He is not better at UAE than it was at quickstep. It was a mistake. He should have stayed at quickstep.
He can't improve.

The only positive factor, is the salary at UAE.

He wasn't making excuses. He just explained his gesture to the car during the ITT.

 

[Elos Anjos]

Ridiculous excuses. He is not better at UAE than it was at quickstep. It was a mistake. He should have stayed at quickstep.
He can't improve.

The only positive factor, is the salary at UAE.

Your thought process is a mess

 

[Andy schleck]

He wasn't making excuses. He just explained his gesture to the car during the ITT.

What the people on the car could do, to make him do a better ITT? Excuses. He didn't have the legs to do better. That's it.

 

[carolina]

What the people on the car could do, to make him do a better ITT? Excuses. He didn't have the legs to do better. That's it.

If the journalists ask why he did the gesture to the car and he answers with the truth, how is that an excuse?
He never said he would have won or that he would end up better then he did. He even said it was a small problem.

 

[Andy schleck]

If the journalists ask why he did the gesture to the car and he answers with the truth, how is that an excuse?
He never said he would have won or that he would end up better then he did. He even said it was a small problem.

João Almeida: "Houve um erro de comunicação com o carro. Termino descontente"

www.google.com

"Error in the time trial: “There was a communication error with the car, I think I could have measured my effort better in that sense. So, I end up unhappy, obviously. to look at the positive side: I didn't have falls and the shape is pretty good."

 

[red_flanders]

He finished 9th in Algarve in his first 2 months at Quick Step, when he was 21 years old, while working for Evenepoel, at 1m40s in GC.
He finished 6th in Algarve after 14 months at UAE, being 24 years old, while riding his own race, at 40s from Martinez in GC.
While the guy who was destined to take his place at QuickStep, finished on the podium.

We'll see at the Giro, but so far he doesn't seem to have taken many steps since the past 3 years. He'll need to finish on the podium at the very least to do better, and to really talk about progressing, he should be a contender for the win. Because going from 4th to 3rd at his age, doesn't mean much and could just be down to maturing and experience, not so much the team helping him improve.

I think the level in the peloton keeps going up. Remco has become a different rider in the last 3 years (as have some other GC winners), new riders have entered the scene, and I generally have the impression that the level in the group keeps rising. Almeida could be improving, but he's always had a fairly obvious ceiling, so I'm not sure if he's really not improving or he's just improving less (or more slowly) than others with higher ceilings.

 

[carolina]

João Almeida: "Houve um erro de comunicação com o carro. Termino descontente"

www.google.com

"Error in the time trial: “There was a communication error with the car, I think I could have measured my effort better in that sense. So, I end up unhappy, obviously. to look at the positive side: I didn't have falls and the shape is pretty good."

He's just explaining what happend and that it was a bit distracting. I don't see that has an excuse at all. It's normal for him to be a bit frustrated right after the race. That's a normal human reaction.

I also agree with him that the race had a few positives. The team work was much better, even with very few guys and he looked really good in Malhão.

The only issue I see is the lack of work for the ITT. He was on the velodrome in Sangalhos a few days before to fine tune his position, but is not nearly enough.

 

[Andy schleck]

He's just explaining what happend and that it was a bit distracting. I don't see that has an excuse at all. It's normal for him to be a bit frustrated right after the race. That's a normal human reaction.

I also agree with him that the race had a few positives. The team work was much better, even with very few guys and he looked really good in Malhão.

The only issue I see is the lack of work for the ITT. He was on the velodrome in Sangalhos a few days before to fine tune his position, but is not nearly enough.

I really don't see anything positive, and i would love to see that, because i'm portuguese like him. I would be very happy with joao almeida being victorious. But he is not getting better in anything.
He continues to have problems with his position in the peloton. He is always to far from the front. He is worse at ITT, he can't be explosive, and he is not better in the mountains. He never achieved the performances he did on sega di ala, alpe di mera, piancavallo in 2020 and 2021.