João Almeida - The portuguese wolf

[rodanafrenteguigs]

Just to show you how his perfomance is very important for cycling in PORTUGAL, if he today finish 4th or even keep the 5th position will be just the second best perfomance of a portuguese rider in a GT

 

[tobydawq]

Just to show you how his perfomance is very important for cycling in PORTUGAL, if he today finish 4th or even keep the 5th position will be just the second best perfomance of a portuguese rider in a GT

I also heard Matti Breschel saying that Guerreiro will be the first Portuguese rider ever to take a jersey in a Grand Tour and that he is in for a hero's welcome back home. I'm sure the Portuguese cycling fans have had a blast the past three weeks.

 

[Leinster]

Saw on PCS yesterday that his worst stage result this Giro was 28th. 28th!

 

[carolina]

Yes, first jersey for a portuguese and the best ever result in the Giro. The previous best result was José Azevedo's 5th place in 2001.

Excelent time-trial today. Almeida seems to have a great recovery, just needs to work on the high mountains.

Can't wait for next year.

 

[SafeBet]

Yes, his recovery has been a pleasant surprise. I can see him challenge for the Vuelta already next year.

 

[Colombianfan]

Yes, first jersey for a portuguese and the best ever result in the Giro. The previous best result was José Azevedo's 5th place in 2001.

Excelent time-trial today. Almeida seems to have a great recovery, just needs to work on the high mountains.

Can't wait for next year.

Hopefully it is just the age when you show this consistency and ITT ability and extremly good climbing overall surely a future GT winner. Atleast a contender for sure, he was very respectable in the mountains, the Stelvio was just too much. His recovery is on another level most riders would of not just lost the Giro on the Stelvio they would of lost 20 plus minutes considering his age? Incredible future i hope. My new FAV along with Bernal and Mas.

 

[Eclipse]

Yes, his recovery has been a pleasant surprise. I can see him challenge for the Vuelta already next year.

The recovery is immense! When he broke on the Stelvio I was fairly sure this was going to be a case of going going gone and he'd ship a packet at Sestriere and do an average final TT but he bounced back so well.

A very bright future in front of him and if he can improve his performance on the truly big stuff he could well win one of the big 3.

Really look forward to seeing him in some one day races next season two.

 

[luckyboy]

Yes, his recovery has been a pleasant surprise. I can see him challenge for the Vuelta already next year.

Would have to be with a lot of TT kms and nothing steep or high altitude in the mountains. Look at the time he lost on Piancavallo, Stelvio, Sestriere and then imagine if any riders like Pogacar, Roglic, Carapaz, Bernal... were here

 

[Parrulo]

Yes, his recovery has been a pleasant surprise. I can see him challenge for the Vuelta already next year.

I think the long steady climbs of the Tour might suit him more than the Vuelta style climbs.

Would have to be with a lot of TT kms and nothing steep or high altitude in the mountains. Look at the time he lost on Piancavallo, Stelvio, Sestriere and then imagine if any riders like Pogacar, Roglic, Carapaz, Bernal... were here

I think the potential is there, but he clearly has a lot of work ahead of him on the high mountains before he can be considered a contendor for a GT with top level competition.

We should also wait and see how the depth of competition in this Giro will age out.

 

[ExperienPT]

Amazing Giro for the new Portuguese Cycling IDOL João "The Panther" Almeida!!!

4th Place GC
11 top 10 stages (2x2nd + 2x3rd + 3x4th)
15 days with the maglia rosa

 

[Bolder]

TT abilities will help. On on Vuelta 2021 train here!

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Amazing Giro for the new Portuguese Cycling IDOL João "The Panther" Almeida!!!

4th Place GC
11 top 10 stages (2x2nd + 2x3rd + 3x4th)
15 days with the maglia rosa

Are you the guy who's giving the nicknames with animals in the comment section of CN articles?

 

[carolina]

Almeida's mother was on the phone with Eurosport Portugal during some of the stages and she said that João was her Pink Panther.

 

[ExperienPT]

Almeida's mother was on the phone with Eurosport Portugal during some of the stages and she said that João was her Pink Panther.

But know that he took off the pink skin he will just be "The Panther" or "Our Panther" for the worthy ones!

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

So, according to Indeleiderstrui.nl (who are known for recycling news, but they don't give a source for their information here) Almeida must have stated he has forged a stronger bond with Masnada and Evenepoel and the trainers that were present at the Sierra Nevada training camp.

With the team still playing him as (one of) the teamleader(s) for the Giro, i have to wonder whether he has decided to stay at DQT. Like i said in the transfer thread a while ago, a pro manager with tight connections at UAE, told me he didn't believe Almeida would be going to UAE, since he would likely have heard about it. I also believe he'd be wise to stay at DQT for the time being. The team is investing in support riders for Evenepoel anyway, and for the time being, there is no other real GC rider at DQT. Knowing Evenepoel can't ride 3 GT's per year, that means there is always one or two GT's where Almeida will be able to ride for himself.

 

[carolina]

That info is taken from DQT website. He's probably trying to manage the portuguese hate towards Masnada

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Also posted in the Evenepoel topic, but i guess not everyone who is interested in Almeida, is reading the Evenepoel topic:
Second video on the page has the press conference with João and Remco. Most is in English, some is in Dutch, some is in Portuguese:

Remco Evenepoel grapt: "João en ik zullen de roze trui in tweeën delen"

Enkele dagen voor de start van de Ronde van Italië heeft Remco Evenepoel samen met zijn ploegmaat João Almeida de pers te woord gestaan. Evenepoel benadrukte dat het voor hem allemaal een sprong in het onbekende is: het is zijn eerste grote ronde én zijn eerste koers sinds zijn val.

sporza.be

 

[BlueRoads]

The more I think about it the more do I believe in a podium for Almeida.

 

[ExperienPT]

@BlueRoads

Why is that? This Giro has more difficult climbs that he dislikes and less ITT that benefits him. I think a top-10 would be great for him.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

@BlueRoads

Why is that? This Giro has more difficult climbs that he dislikes and less ITT that benefits him. I think a top-10 would be great for him.

Well, it is still possible for a guy his age -while old- to still improve on certain aspects. We've seen McNulty take a big step since last year, why wouldn't Almeida be able to do the same? Both are the same age. I also don't think he'll ever be an elite climber, but he's a fighter with a big engine. Also don't forget he wasted a lot of energy last year (needlessly) defending his jersey. Had he never worn pink, he might actually have come a lot closer to winning the Giro in the final ITT.

 

[cellardoor]

Well, it is still possible for a guy his age -while old- to still improve on certain aspects. We've seen McNulty take a big step since last year, why wouldn't Almeida be able to do the same? Both are the same age. I also don't think he'll ever be an elite climber, but he's a fighter with a big engine. Also don't forget he wasted a lot of energy last year (needlessly) defending his jersey. Had he never worn pink, he might actually have come a lot closer to winning the Giro in the final ITT.

But we've already seen him this year and I don't see much sign that his climbing ability has taken a big step forward.

 

[BlueRoads]

@BlueRoads

Why is that? This Giro has more difficult climbs that he dislikes and less ITT that benefits him. I think a top-10 would be great for him.

Pretty much what Logic said. Or, in less eloquent words:

• his self-believe
• the team's comparatively strong (and I trust DQS's tactics)
• his flying under the radar
• although there isn't that much time trialing it's not nothing. most others in the race are pretty bad time trialers. He can allow himself to lose a bit on the climbs
• he always comes back when you think he's dropped for good
• he's not such a bad climber
• he doesn't look prone to collapsing
• the team seems to be in very good shape, I doubt Almeida isn't
• if Masnada can climb and time trial like that but isn't a leader, while Almeida is... well...

But we've already seen him this year and I don't see much sign that his climbing ability has taken a big step forward.

While he hasn't set the world on fire he wasn't too shabby, was he?
For instance the Port Ainé stage in Catalunya... he was sandwiched between Yates and Ciccone...
Prati di Tivo in front of some big name climbers... Bardet, Nibali, Soler... of course they weren't in top form by then, but why should he have been?
UAE better than some guys like Kuss, for instance, who surely is a pure, although not constant, climber
I think he's good at limiting his losses and knows when to let go and go his own tempo and when to save energy. If he can do that, take some time in the time trial vs. some contenders, the others have their problems on specific stages while he's steadily among the 8 best...
We might underestimate him because he's not been among the podium guys in these races, but those were absolute high quality races with great competition.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

But we've already seen him this year and I don't see much sign that his climbing ability has taken a big step forward.

Then we can say Bernal is nowhere close to his former level, Buchmann has no chance, Etc. I'm not claiming he'll be beter, but it's still possible. I'll wait for week 3, that's when it counts.

 

[carolina]

João also said he didn't get enough rest between stages last year, because he was in the maglia rosa. More interviews, etc after every stage.

I think he will be better, but the stronger competition makes it unlikely that he will finish on the podium.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

João also said he didn't get enough rest between stages last year, because he was in the maglia rosa. More interviews, etc after every stage.

I think he will be better, but the stronger competition makes it unlikely that he will finish on the podium.

Indeed, i already mentioned that in a previous post, but many people seem to forget or dismiss it. He wore and defended the jersey for two weeks, on and off the bike, it drains energy.