João Almeida - Bota Lume

[lenric]

Seriously though

Where are his eyebrows?

marginal gains...

 

[SafeBet]

Superb once again today. He's one tough motherf*cker, that's for sure. I really hope he can win the stage tomorrow.

 

[pvieira91]

huge mistake not giving him the leader role since the begining. Hope he can win the stage tomorrow! He deserves it!

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

All in all, I’d say this post from the stage 1 thread aged pretty well...

It’s a testament to the crazy times we are in right now that folks are dismissive of Alameida, a guy who merely got 4th in the Giro in his first GT at age 22 (21?) and who has climbed well all year and just smashed all other GC riders in an ITT. Not saying a I think he’ll win it, nor am I saying he’s a talent of Pogacar/Remco proportions, but he is a real deal talent. Not many riders have performed as well in a GT at his age in the past 20 years.

 

[SafeBet]

All in all, I’d say this post from the stage 1 thread aged pretty well...

Yeah I remember the experts even before the Giro saying he would drop like a stone come the real mountains. Here are the real mountains. And he's arguably the best climber in the race.

 

[Froome]

Joao almeida, the next poulidor. I hope he wins tomorrow, he deserves a victory.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Wait, hes only 22 years old. I thought he was 24.

What the *** is going on? I think I might have underrated this kid.

 

[Froome]

Yeah I remember the experts even before the Giro saying he would drop like a stone come the real mountains. Here are the real mountains. And he's arguably the best climber in the race.

Because the "experts" on this forum tought that a young guy of 22 years wouldn't improve is climbing skills in the mountains after last year's giro.

 

[pvieira91]

Wait, hes only 22 years old. I thought he was 24.

What the *** is going on? I think I might have underrated this kid.

Are you patrick lefevere ?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Are you patrick lefevere ?

Yes, I ordered him to wait for Remco because I hate him.

 

[tobydawq]

Wait, hes only 22 years old. I thought he was 24.

What the *** is going on? I think I might have underrated this kid.

Lol, that's honest talking

 

[KZD]

I am starting to think that this kid has a real shot of winning the Vuelta already this year

 

[pvieira91]

I am starting to think that this kid has a real shot of winning the Vuelta already this year

No way! Masnada will lead the team.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

He's one of two strongest GC guys in the last part of the race. This Giro would look completely different if Almeida hadn't lost 4.5 minutes on stage 4 (he wouldn't have worked for Evenepoel on stage 11 and would likely be on the podium at the end maybe even with a shot at victory considering the final TT).

 

[carolina]

No way! Masnada will lead the team.

Considering Masnada's usual positioning in relation to João's wheel, I think João has a really big shot at winning.

 

[Panda Claws]

Well apart from stage 4 he did also lose 28" on Bernal, Evenepoel, etc. on stage 6 and 12"on stage 9 (2"behind Evenepoel).
It's not just that he was bad on stage 4 but he also didn't look that good until the gravel stage (stage 11). Although his Prologue was good.

We'll see how good Almeida can get soon enough. Plenty of GT's yet to come.

 

[Pinot's goat]

Next GT Almeida does he can compete for the podium without needing all the other GC contenders abandoning and having lots of bad days.

 

[groogster]

As I said many times before, this kid it’s just like Oporto Wine, it will only get better with age ! That he paced himself extremely week I already knew but those kinds of attacks at the steepest parts of climbings it’s new to me and shows that he already developed since last year. Only his 2nd year and only his 2nd GT. Just to need to see how he will performs tomorrow at more than 2k in altitude after the last 2 days efforts. He has a chance of winning the iTT on Sunday so he should protect himself tomorrow but knowing him as a rider I think that we’ll go all out to attack tomorrow if he has the legs. Very ambitious rider indeed

 

[solo80k]

Still don't quite understand on what happened on stage 4. But i guess that's life.

It's life or sabotage (stomach issues are easy to replicate), only God knows.

 

[Panda Claws]

It's life or sabotage (stomach issues are easy to replicate), only God knows.

Are you really suggesting that they put something in his food?

 

[groogster]

Next GT Almeida does he can compete for the podium without needing all the other GC contenders abandoning and having lots of bad days.

Imo from those only Landa is better and maybe Buchmann (maybe) so he doesn’t need that to be a real contender for podiums in GT for years to come (Slovenians aside)

 

[AlfaLum]

Imo from those only Landa is better and maybe Buchmann (maybe) so he doesn’t need that to be a real contender for podiums in GT for years to come (Slovenians aside)

Well Ciccone could have been to far off for Almeida at the moment now. Depends on whether he would have collapsed on wednesday without a fall.

Anyway Almeida is a great contender for the podium in the future.

 

[Bonimenier]

Next GT Almeida does he can compete for the podium without needing all the other GC contenders abandoning and having lots of bad days.

But he will have to work for Masnada, Evenepoel and Vansevenant...

 

[solo80k]

Are you really suggesting that they put something in his food?

I suggest nothing, it may be just bad luck. Just judging by his performance during 3 weeks... big loss on the first mountain stage + forcing him to come back on strade bianche (next big loss a few days after) >>>> turned into top 3 climber during third week.

 

[yaco]

Hope he learned his lesson from the last two days - Had he worked with Yates and Bernal in the last two stages, then he may have won a stage.