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João Almeida - Bota Lume

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It's time. @Froome I have to ask. This image. It's tagged on his official Facebook account. It puzzles me as I tend to think Portugal has a macho culture, but I find Almeida to be protrayed very innocent, childlike, almost bordering on angelic. I don't think many riders would be portrayed cuddling their mascots in their beds. I have looked at other young riders and I don't find anything remotely similar this far. It's actually why I tend to like him. He doesn't fit the masculine macho man role. But how does it go with Portugal?
122202022_4064245386922858_5361361469334320896_n.jpg

Sorry to post this in Almeida's thread, but I think he looks very masculine compared to:
cristiano-ronaldo-instagram-hecke.jpg

;)
 
It's time. @Froome I have to ask. This image. It's tagged on his official Facebook account. It puzzles me as I tend to think Portugal has a macho culture, but I find Almeida to be protrayed very innocent, childlike, almost bordering on angelic. I don't think many riders would be portrayed cuddling their mascots in their beds. I have looked at other young riders and I don't find anything remotely similar this far. It's actually why I tend to like him. He doesn't fit the masculine macho man role. But how does it go with Portugal?
122202022_4064245386922858_5361361469334320896_n.jpg
Firstable, the portuguese are very nationalistic with the portuguese sportsmen regardless their personalities or way of being. Look at ronaldo, in Portugal everybody loves him, but out of Portugal it's different, there are a lot of people that don't like him because he looks sometimes like a arrogant person with a lot of ego.
In case of almeida besides him being portuguese, he is a quiet, humble,friendly nice guy that respects everybody, and in the bike, he is a warrior thay gives everything, he is a fighter, so people absolutely love him because all of that factors.
Since giro 2020, joao almeida bought to cycling a lot of supporters, and not just young people, but a lot of portuguese people that were a big fan cycling in the past like in Joaquim agostinho's era, but that no longer followed cycling since some things happened some years ago. Now, we have finally again have a new hero that could win the best races in the world tour, so everybody is excited with him.
Cycling were very popular in the past in portugal, because of his brutality, they suffer a lot, and almeida is bringing that popularity back.
 
Firstable, the portuguese are very nationalistic with the portuguese sportsmen regardless their personalities or way of being. Look at ronaldo, in Portugal everybody loves him, but out of Portugal it's different, there are a lot of people that don't like him because he looks sometimes like a arrogant person with a lot of ego.
In case of almeida besides him being portuguese, he is a quiet, humble,friendly nice guy that respects everybody, and in the bike, he is a warrior thay gives everything, he is a fighter, so people absolutely love him because all of that factors.
Since giro 2020, joao almeida bought to cycling a lot of supporters, and not just young people, but a lot of portuguese people that were a big fan cycling in the past like in Joaquim agostinho's era, but that no longer followed cycling since some things happened some years ago. Now, we have finally again have a new hero that could win the best races in the world tour, so everybody is excited with him.
Cycling were very popular in the past in portugal, because of his brutality, they suffer a lot, and almeida is bringing that popularity back.
The best thing I have seen from him was a Facebook share from a looooooong time ago way before he was famous featuring this video.
It's not something I except a young athlete to share. Maybe time's are a changing. I hope so.

Anyhow I agree with the duality between him on and off the bike. It's like two different people :D
 
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Joao almeida said today in a interview that he didn't choose emirates because of the money. He received a better proposal financially by other team.
This situation proves the potential that many teams believe he have.
I just wonder who on earth gave even more money. Does Bora have that high a budget? Maybe from freeing up space from Sagan leaving?!

Could you link the interview?

Also I still don't get how you want to trade with an authoritarian state, but that's just me. Clearly he has chosen the team which would give him the most leadership.

What was so interesting to me was that this last Italian week he still flew under the radar, while podium twice.

I want to speculate on who's getting on the giro team with him, now that we know UAE is building a team around him. I Iooked up names I thought sounded likely about a week ago. And then I mentally went into off season and forgot which names I found. I believe it was something like "Ardila", and then I could imagine Ayoso and Soler, Bennett.

II still really do not understand how Soler is supposed to actually work as a domestique, but I imagine it's in his contract or at least hope it is if that's what they expect of him.
 
I just wonder who on earth gave even more money. Does Bora have that high a budget? Maybe from freeing up space from Sagan leaving?!

Could you link the interview?

Also I still don't get how you want to trade with an authoritarian state, but that's just me. Clearly he has chosen the team which would give him the most leadership.

What was so interesting to me was that this last Italian week he still flew under the radar, while podium twice.

I want to speculate on who's getting on the giro team with him, now that we know UAE is building a team around him. I Iooked up names I thought sounded likely about a week ago. And then I mentally went into off season and forgot which names I found. I believe it was something like "Ardila", and then I could imagine Ayoso and Soler, Bennett.

II still really do not understand how Soler is supposed to actually work as a domestique, but I imagine it's in his contract or at least hope it is if that's what they expect of him.

I think that Rui Oliveira and Costa also want help Almeida. Than maybe Formolo, Polanc, Mcnulty. And that Mcnulty have free role in Vuelta.
 
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I just wonder who on earth gave even more money. Does Bora have that high a budget? Maybe from freeing up space from Sagan leaving?!

Could you link the interview?

Also I still don't get how you want to trade with an authoritarian state, but that's just me. Clearly he has chosen the team which would give him the most leadership.

What was so interesting to me was that this last Italian week he still flew under the radar, while podium twice.

I want to speculate on who's getting on the giro team with him, now that we know UAE is building a team around him. I Iooked up names I thought sounded likely about a week ago. And then I mentally went into off season and forgot which names I found. I believe it was something like "Ardila", and then I could imagine Ayoso and Soler, Bennett.

II still really do not understand how Soler is supposed to actually work as a domestique, but I imagine it's in his contract or at least hope it is if that's what they expect of him.

I just wonder who on earth gave even more money. Does Bora have that high a budget? Maybe from freeing up space from Sagan leaving?!

Could you link the interview?

Also I still don't get how you want to trade with an authoritarian state, but that's just me. Clearly he has chosen the team which would give him the most leadership.

What was so interesting to me was that this last Italian week he still flew under the radar, while podium twice.

I want to speculate on who's getting on the giro team with him, now that we know UAE is building a team around him. I Iooked up names I thought sounded likely about a week ago. And then I mentally went into off season and forgot which names I found. I believe it was something like "Ardila", and then I could imagine Ayoso and Soler, Bennett.

II still really do not understand how Soler is supposed to actually work as a domestique, but I imagine it's in his contract or at least hope it is if that's what they expect of him.
Unfortunately i'm not finding now the interview, but i remembered that he gave the interview to the newspapper called "publico".
Absolutely, i believe it was bora. Movistar and ag2r don't have so much money to make such a big proposal. And probably it would be a proposal of 3 or more millions per year, because joao almeida is gonna win 2.2 millions per year on emirates.
Bora even without joao almeida, already hired a lot of riders like vlasov, higuita and hindley, so they have a lot of money.
Joao almeida will be the leader next year on the giro, and will not go to the tour help pogacar. But doesn't mean that in 2023 things could be different...
Yeah, it's a authoritarian state, but matxin knows almeida since he was very young, so that was one of the main reasons to choose emirates. He knows that matxin and san millan will help him to develop a lot more.
He's gonna get help in the giro probably by the all portuguese riders, brothers Oliveira, rui costa.
Unfortunately there was a roglic on that races....but i believe that with 23 years, almeida is already one of the best in the world tour, behind the slovenians. Let's see in the future if he can get there to the level of the slovenians.
 
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Here is the interview, but it seems that it is behind a pay wall.

You should be able to read here without paywall:


Some highlights translated:

Before the 2021 Giro, you said that “what was planned was to go in search of the best GC." Then, on the road, things didn't happen that way. Did you feel betrayed by the team?

Betrayed I wouldn't say. We went with two leaders [the other was Remco Evenepoel], although at the beginning it was that spiel of saying “Remco will just see how he feels, to evolve, etc.”. But the truth is that we went with two leaders as equals and the road would put everything in its place. I had a bad day on that rainy stage where I didn't manage to eat well. I lost some time, but, being the Giro, it wouldn't be a big problem, especially as I was in my best form ever and we were still at the start of the race.

But if the team had stayed with you on that bad day, could you not have wasted so much time?

I think that day there wasn't much to do. We could have just save small seconds. It wouldn't make much difference to have teammates and it wouldn't change much. But then I had to wait for Remco in the next stages.

So the problem wasn't so much the bad day, but the option to work in the following days?

I would say yes. Having to wait for him on the mountain stages cost me some time in the fight for the podium. If I didn't have to wait for him in the those stages and had only thought about myself, I would probably have ended up on the podium. But then, with Remco as leader, I had to wait for him. It was a tactical decision and I am a good teammate. It is what it is. This is a team and we fought with what we had, even because at the time we thought Remco could held up for three weeks, the way he had it. But it's just like that. Cycling is team sports and I am a good colleague and I put myself at the service of the team's objective.

But do you see today that it was a mistake?

If we knew what we know today, maybe we would have changed something—but that's how you learn, from mistakes. When Remco didn't make it, I went back to the plan and the goal was to win a stage, which unfortunately I couldn't. But I got a good place in the overall [sixth] and I was able to see that, in fact, I am a three-week cyclist.

And were you expecting more in Lombardia?

I was, yes. Also taking into account my previous results. But from my feelings that day, right from the start, I just tried to give my best to help my colleagues.

Why did you choose Emirates?

I had proposals from all the teams. Contrary to what they say, I didn't choose it because of the monetary issue, because there were teams, more than one, giving me a lot more than Emirates gave me. But I really liked the plan they offered me to be a leader and with future development. I like the way they think and how they look at cycling. And there I'll be fine, feel good and with nice people. It will be a good climate and good development.

And how will it be to race with Pogacar?

I would love to race with Tadej in the same race and even work for him. It would be an honour. And in the future, I want to race with him.

If Deceuninck had matched Emirates' proposal, would it have stayed with the team?

I don't know, I would have to think. If they had equaled, maybe I would have stayed. But there was still Remco… But it is what it is and I think I made the best choice. I am very happy.

If you were the sporting director of Emirates, what would your plan be for 2022? Giro and Worlds? Giro and Vuelta? Tour?

Personally, I want to do Giro 2022 and then we'll see.

And would Giro plus Vuelta be a good plan?

I don't know if I'll do the Vuelta, because I'm still young and if I can avoid doing two GTs for the overall, I think it should be avoided — because I want to have a long career and, as the saying goes, I don't want to burn all my matches right now. I want to think long term and so does the team. That's why they gave me a five-year contract.
 
You should be able to read here without paywall:


Some highlights translated:

Before the 2021 Giro, you said that “what was planned was to go in search of the best GC." Then, on the road, things didn't happen that way. Did you feel betrayed by the team?

Betrayed I wouldn't say. We went with two leaders [the other was Remco Evenepoel], although at the beginning it was that spiel of saying “Remco will just see how he feels, to evolve, etc.”. But the truth is that we went with two leaders as equals and the road would put everything in its place. I had a bad day on that rainy stage where I didn't manage to eat well. I lost some time, but, being the Giro, it wouldn't be a big problem, especially as I was in my best form ever and we were still at the start of the race.

But if the team had stayed with you on that bad day, could you not have wasted so much time?

I think that day there wasn't much to do. We could have just save small seconds. It wouldn't make much difference to have teammates and it wouldn't change much. But then I had to wait for Remco in the next stages.

So the problem wasn't so much the bad day, but the option to work in the following days?

I would say yes. Having to wait for him on the mountain stages cost me some time in the fight for the podium. If I didn't have to wait for him in the those stages and had only thought about myself, I would probably have ended up on the podium. But then, with Remco as leader, I had to wait for him. It was a tactical decision and I am a good teammate. It is what it is. This is a team and we fought with what we had, even because at the time we thought Remco could held up for three weeks, the way he had it. But it's just like that. Cycling is team sports and I am a good colleague and I put myself at the service of the team's objective.

But do you see today that it was a mistake?

If we knew what we know today, maybe we would have changed something—but that's how you learn, from mistakes. When Remco didn't make it, I went back to the plan and the goal was to win a stage, which unfortunately I couldn't. But I got a good place in the overall [sixth] and I was able to see that, in fact, I am a three-week cyclist.

And were you expecting more in Lombardia?

I was, yes. Also taking into account my previous results. But from my feelings that day, right from the start, I just tried to give my best to help my colleagues.

Why did you choose Emirates?

I had proposals from all the teams. Contrary to what they say, I didn't choose it because of the monetary issue, because there were teams, more than one, giving me a lot more than Emirates gave me. But I really liked the plan they offered me to be a leader and with future development. I like the way they think and how they look at cycling. And there I'll be fine, feel good and with nice people. It will be a good climate and good development.

And how will it be to race with Pogacar?

I would love to race with Tadej in the same race and even work for him. It would be an honour. And in the future, I want to race with him.

If Deceuninck had matched Emirates' proposal, would it have stayed with the team?

I don't know, I would have to think. If they had equaled, maybe I would have stayed. But there was still Remco… But it is what it is and I think I made the best choice. I am very happy.

If you were the sporting director of Emirates, what would your plan be for 2022? Giro and Worlds? Giro and Vuelta? Tour?

Personally, I want to do Giro 2022 and then we'll see.

And would Giro plus Vuelta be a good plan?

I don't know if I'll do the Vuelta, because I'm still young and if I can avoid doing two GTs for the overall, I think it should be avoided — because I want to have a long career and, as the saying goes, I don't want to burn all my matches right now. I want to think long term and so does the team. That's why they gave me a five-year contract.
So, a lot of teams offered a better financially contrat than emirates.
I agree with him. I think he made the best possible choice to develop more in the future.
 
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That interview was the confirmation made by Almeida himself of what i said as soon as the UAE deal was made public… Almeida was signed to be a leader and not to work as a domestique for Pog. It was pretty clear form the values involved and the contract duration. I still think that was the right choice for Almeida. Let’s see what he can do with this opportunity as GC goes.
IMO if he develops as much as he did last year he surely be a contender for the win at the Giro because there won’t be Pog, Roglic and probably not Bernal either. Would love to see a Almeida Evenepoel clash… it will be epic!
 
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That interview was the confirmation made by Almeida himself of what i said as soon as the UAE deal was made public… Almeida was signed to be a leader and not to work as a domestique for Pog. It was pretty clear form the values involved and the contract duration. I still think that was the right choice for Almeida. Let’s see what he can do with this opportunity as GC goes.
IMO if he develops as much as he did last year he surely be a contender for the win at the Giro because there won’t be Pog, Roglic and probably not Bernal either. Would love to see a Almeida Evenepoel clash… it will be epic!
Personally i want to see a clash between, pogacar, roglic, bernal, and this young boys like remco and almeida. I hope this young boys continue to improve a lot next year to fight with them.
If almeida improves so much, like he improved from 2020 to 2021, it will be a serious case.
 
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Personally i want to see a clash between, pogacar, roglic, bernal, and this young boys like remco and almeida. I hope this young boys continue to improve a lot next year to fight with them.
If almeida improves so much, like he improved from 2020 to 2021, it will be a serious case.

Interesting for the future.

Almeida
Pogacar
Ayuso
Mcnulty?
Fisher Black

Mcnulty i think will not help his full carreer captains. Want to try find his GC capacities. Maybe will leave after next year? Ayuso in potential grand tour rider to. Fisher Black we will see. Very interesting this.
 
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Personally i want to see a clash between, pogacar, roglic, bernal, and this young boys like remco and almeida. I hope this young boys continue to improve a lot next year to fight with them.
If almeida improves so much, like he improved from 2020 to 2021, it will be a serious case.

If that scenario ever exists Almeida will be there to support Poga, not to fight against him. Almeida is a good boy and a team player, if UAE gives him support for the Giro and a few other relevant races he will surely help Poga anywhere that is needed - he even says in the interview that he is happy to work for him.
 
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Sad to see he has still not acknowledged the fact that what happened at the Giro was nobody's doing but his own. He lost more than 4 minutes in the first mountain stage. Yet he claims that "it wasn't going to be a big problem". The time he lost having to wait for Evenepoel was the problem. "I would say yes. Having to wait for him on the mountain stages cost me some time in the fight for the podium. "

There were exactly 2 (!) stages where Almeida had to wait for Evenepoel, the sterrati stage and the Zoncolan stage. These were both stages where Bernal was clearly the strongest of the GC guys. Even if Almeida were able to have followed Bernal in those two stages how much time did he actually end up losing by waiting on Evenepoel? In the sterrati stage, Almeida lost 2m8s to Bernal, due to Evenepoel. On Zoncolan, he lost 1m28s. If i do the math, that's 3 minutes and 36 seconds that he lost by having to wait for Evenepoel. Even if we are being generous and add the 28 seconds he lost on stage 6, where he did some minor work for Evenepoel on the final climb, it would be still be only 4 minutes and 4 seconds he actually lost. But the 4 minutes and 20 seconds he lost in the first mountain stage, that was not the problem? Furthermore, from his own words it becomes clear that the reason he had to wait for Evenepoel, was exactly because he lost those 4m20s in the first place, or they wouldn't have ordered him to work for Evenepoel to begin with, since they were both leaders.

And than there is the chance that he would not have been able to follow Bernal on those two stages regardless, since Bernal seemed to be on a different level to other GC riders in the first 2 weeks. So he still might have lost time in GC even if he didn't have to wait. Furthermore, if we are only talking about the podium and not the overall victory, he still would have lost 4 minutes and 8 seconds to Caruso and Yates in that first mountain stage, but he would have lost less time in those other stages, since they were also not able to follow Bernal. For instance, on the stages he had to help Evenepoel that ended up with him losing time, he only lost 2 minutes 46 seconds on Caruso, over those 3 stages (6, 11, 14) combined.

In conclusion, talking about his podium chances, he lost over 4 minutes on his bad day, and less than 3 minutes by having to babysit Evenepoel (which was a direct result of him having had a bad day to begin with). Now, most importantly of all perhaps, had he actually been able to follow Bernal on those stages, he would have been able to take back 1 minute and 18 seconds on Caruso, while having lost 4 minutes and 8 seconds on his bad day. He would still have come up 2m50s short vs Caruso on only those specific stages due to his own bad day. On Yates he would only have been able to make up for 54 seconds of the 4 minutes and 8 seconds, had he been able to follow Bernal on the stages he lost time due to Evenepoel. He did not lose the Giro or his podium due to having to wait, he lost it because of his bad day, which cost him a lot more time and had him have to lose additional time by having to wait.
 
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He ended up 3'09'' behind Yates. Either no bad day, or two perfect days not having to wait would be enough. So the bad day did not necessarily cost him the podium, but after the bad day he couldn't afford to wait for Evenepoel. I think it's likely that he would have done better on Giau if he was all in for a podium at that point.
 
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He ended up 3'09'' behind Yates. Either no bad day, or two perfect days not having to wait would be enough. So the bad day did not necessarily cost him the podium, but after the bad day he couldn't afford to wait for Evenepoel. I think it's likely that he would have done better on Giau if he was all in for a podium at that point.
Him having to wait was a direct result of his bad day, so that scenario is nothing but some musing. Any team with two leaders would have made that call, so again him having to wait was down to his own performance, not bad team tactics. Furthermore it is based on the assumption that he would have been good enough to follow the best GC guys on the two stages he lost time waiting. It's possible, maybe likely, but no certainty.

There certainly were some scenario's possible that even with his bad day, he could have pushed Yates off the podium, i'm not debating that. In the final week he was one of the strongest riders. My point was that he is basically ignoring his bad day and brushing it off as "of little consequence" while pointing towards him waiting as the reason he came up short in the fight for the podium. I could relate if he only lost 1 or 2 minutes on his bad day, and then had to wait 5 or more minutes on Evenepoel. Then it would have been very lopsided and i would definitely agree with his assessment, but that is simply not the case. Hence i find his answers in the interview rather disingenuous. Of course, it might also have been formulated that way by the journalist.

PS: he lost 3m10s on Yates on the three days in question. He was 3m9s off Yates' podium spot. I think Yates might have been able to go a bit deeper to ensure he would not get bumped off the podium by a few seconds. I think that's more likely than a scenario where only Almeida would have benefited at every stage.
 
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If that scenario ever exists Almeida will be there to support Poga, not to fight against him. Almeida is a good boy and a team player, if UAE gives him support for the Giro and a few other relevant races he will surely help Poga anywhere that is needed - he even says in the interview that he is happy to work for him.
Probably in 2023, pogacar will try the double giro tour, and that's when almeida will make his debut in the tour. They will do like ineos did (thomas and froome), they will take two leaders to ensure that if something happens to pogacar because of the fact that is going to the tour with the giro in his legs, they will have almeida like a plan B.
Next year, things are very clear, almeida giro, pogacar tour, and of course pogacar will always be the plan A to the tour, but almeida will always get his chances even sometimes in the tour because like i said, pogacar wants to win the giro and Vuelta.
 
Sad to see he has still not acknowledged the fact that what happened at the Giro was nobody's doing but his own. He lost more than 4 minutes in the first mountain stage. Yet he claims that "it wasn't going to be a big problem". The time he lost having to wait for Evenepoel was the problem. "I would say yes. Having to wait for him on the mountain stages cost me some time in the fight for the podium. "

There were exactly 2 (!) stages where Almeida had to wait for Evenepoel, the sterrati stage and the Zoncolan stage. These were both stages where Bernal was clearly the strongest of the GC guys. Even if Almeida were able to have followed Bernal in those two stages how much time did he actually end up losing by waiting on Evenepoel? In the sterrati stage, Almeida lost 2m8s to Bernal, due to Evenepoel. On Zoncolan, he lost 1m28s. If i do the math, that's 3 minutes and 36 seconds that he lost by having to wait for Evenepoel. Even if we are being generous and add the 28 seconds he lost on stage 6, where he did some minor work for Evenepoel on the final climb, it would be still be only 4 minutes and 4 seconds he actually lost. But the 4 minutes and 20 seconds he lost in the first mountain stage, that was not the problem? Furthermore, from his own words it becomes clear that the reason he had to wait for Evenepoel, was exactly because he lost those 4m20s in the first place, or they wouldn't have ordered him to work for Evenepoel to begin with, since they were both leaders.

And than there is the chance that he would not have been able to follow Bernal on those two stages regardless, since Bernal seemed to be on a different level to other GC riders in the first 2 weeks. So he still might have lost time in GC even if he didn't have to wait. Furthermore, if we are only talking about the podium and not the overall victory, he still would have lost 4 minutes and 8 seconds to Caruso and Yates in that first mountain stage, but he would have lost less time in those other stages, since they were also not able to follow Bernal. For instance, on the stages he had to help Evenepoel that ended up with him losing time, he only lost 2 minutes 46 seconds on Caruso, over those 3 stages (6, 11, 14) combined.

In conclusion, talking about his podium chances, he lost over 4 minutes on his bad day, and less than 3 minutes by having to babysit Evenepoel (which was a direct result of him having had a bad day to begin with). Now, most importantly of all perhaps, had he actually been able to follow Bernal on those stages, he would have been able to take back 1 minute and 18 seconds on Caruso, while having lost 4 minutes and 8 seconds on his bad day. He would still have come up 2m50s short vs Caruso on only those specific stages due to his own bad day. On Yates he would only have been able to make up for 54 seconds of the 4 minutes and 8 seconds, had he been able to follow Bernal on the stages he lost time due to Evenepoel. He did not lose the Giro or his podium due to having to wait, he lost it because of his bad day, which cost him a lot more time and had him have to lose additional time by having to wait.

You are reading too much into what he said. It's an interview to a Portuguese newspaper, the questions are leading and it's normal for people to "embezzle" a bit their side of the story when speaking to their home papers.

He is not saying that he lost the podium because of waiting for Remco. He says that by then, because of his early bad day, he couldn't afford to loose more time - which is factually true.

It's clear that he would have like to keep working for him only, because he felt to be in great shape - and it's true that after Remco abandoned the GC race that Almeida was neck and neck with the best in the high mountains, something most people didn't think she was capable of. But he says that it was a decision that "we", the team, took, because they thought that Remco was capable of going all the way. He puts the emphasis in "we", ie the team including me, took the decision, and not simply that "the team" decided, even if would have preferred a different outcome. He could have put more emphasis on his bad day, but I don't see anything wrong with what he said.
 
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I have now read through the whole interview in google translate. I am amused by "Foi uma táctica de corrida e eu sou um bom colega de equipa"

In my world if someone says they're a good teammate, be it cycling or something else I will raise my eyebrows. But I gather it's just a cultural thing.

I still do struggle a bit with this innocent naive choirboy persona.

(Cyclists are a weird breed :tearsofjoy:)
 
You are reading too much into what he said. It's an interview to a Portuguese newspaper, the questions are leading and it's normal for people to "embezzle" a bit their side of the story when speaking to their home papers.

He is not saying that he lost the podium because of waiting for Remco. He says that by then, because of his early bad day, he couldn't afford to loose more time - which is factually true.

It's clear that he would have like to keep working for him only, because he felt to be in great shape - and it's true that after Remco abandoned the GC race that Almeida was neck and neck with the best in the high mountains, something most people didn't think she was capable of. But he says that it was a decision that "we", the team, took, because they thought that Remco was capable of going all the way. He puts the emphasis in "we", ie the team including me, took the decision, and not simply that "the team" decided, even if would have preferred a different outcome. He could have put more emphasis on his bad day, but I don't see anything wrong with what he said.
Like i said in my previous post, it's possible most of this was down to the journalist asking leading questions and interpreting the answers to fit his view. Or maybe the translation doesn't do him justice. But otherwise my issue is with the fact that he flat out says him losing 4+ minutes on his bad day was not a problem, while waiting for Evenepoel was what "probably" cost him the podium.
 
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I have now read through the whole interview in google translate. I am amused by "Foi uma táctica de corrida e eu sou um bom colega de equipa"

In my world if someone says they're a good teammate, be it cycling or something else I will raise my eyebrows. But I gather it's just a cultural thing.

I still do struggle a bit with this innocent naive choirboy persona.

(Cyclists are a weird breed :tearsofjoy:)

He's just trying not to be disrespectful to his employer and colleagues. He just started his career, why would he talk badly about his teammates or team? He has nothing to gain, only to lose. No one knows the future, maybe he'll end up working with some of those riders or even back at DQS.
 
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He's just trying not to be disrespectful to his employer and colleagues. He just started his career, why would he talk badly about his teammates or team? He has nothing to gain, only to lose. No one knows the future, maybe he'll end up working with some of those riders or even back at DQS.
I know :D It's all persona corporate robot, but it's sort of my point; he's performing "a good teammate". But as it's done to get ahead, it's not really team playing imo. It's just instrumental.

He's leaving QS as he wants to lead. He's stating he's a good teammate so that he can be a leader. Instrumental.

And he's far from alone in doing that. People do those things and I still raise my eyebrows, as those who really are team players rarely have to state it. It just shows.
 
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