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João Almeida - Bota Lume

Page 77 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
He is going to the Giro right? If Roglic and Remco will play games with each other, I could see Almeida "stealing" the whole thing as he won't lose that much time in TTs, so he should stay close in GC. Similar to Nibali/Roglic games in 2019 Giro and in the end Carapaz won.
It's an interesting thought and I think you're right that he won't ever bleed THAT much time, but how is he going to TAKE time? He's quite easy to mark, he's just not explosive enough to be a real threat. Sure, if Roglič and Evenepoel both crack he could be right there, but without them cracking, I struggle to see any terrain on which he doesn't lose time.
 
It's an interesting thought and I think you're right that he won't ever bleed THAT much time, but how is he going to TAKE time? He's quite easy to mark, he's just not explosive enough to be a real threat. Sure, if Roglič and Evenepoel both crack he could be right there, but without them cracking, I struggle to see any terrain on which he doesn't lose time.
I tend to agree with this. But the arms race is on. So we'll see. Catalunya will be interesting.

I have to say though that whoever wins this giro is gonna be a ton better than most GT winners I have seen (since I started watching them 2020 lol) considering how hard this giro route is!
 
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Last year he couldn't do those fast paced hilly up and down stop and start stages and came in 20 seconds later etc. So I'd say there's improvement. Also this competition is much harder than last year Catalunya. And the overall pace is higher. So he has improved. It's just that others improved as well. And without a bike change he'd have a stage win yesterday for sure.

Least it's mental and not physical ability that's lacking.

I never expected him to change into a different rider. How could that possibly happen?
 
With 3 itt in the Giro he will lose close to 3 minutes to Evenepoel just on those stages.
Which is about 3 minutes less than everyone else will lose. Surely you would agree Almeida is a better TTer than the other podium contenders?

As for grinding his way back to the front, well yes diesels do that. Anyway I think today was promising it tells me Almeida is on track to be at least be as strong as last year before Covid got in the way. Whether that is good enough for a podium I have no idea.
 

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