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João Almeida - Bota Lume

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So it appears there is an interview with him on the homepage of CN behind a paywall. Anybody care to share what the essence of it was?

It doesn't seem to be behind a paywall for me, but here go some highlights:

“I like to be consistent. To keep your focus in Grand Tours and during the season you need to be mentally and physically strong. If you lose that focus, even just for a week or so, it reflects on your results. I think I’m good at that and doing the right thing at the right time. I’ll always try to evolve and improve. I think I had a really good season, now I’m excited for the years to come.”

Cyclingnews pointed out that he and Evenepoel will be rivals in 2022.
"For sure that’ll be an advantage,” Almeida said, perhaps hinting at the fact that there would be no more waiting for the Belgian in stage races and Grand Tours in the years ahead.
“I think I know his strengths and his weaknesses. He doesn't have many weaknesses and that’s why he’s so hard to beat, so it’ll be interesting to race against each other. Let’s see what happens. Let the best rider win.”
“It’s fair to say that Remco’s more emotive than I am. When you’re as strong as he is, you just go full power. Maybe I’m not as strong yet, so I need to use my brain a little bit more and ride smarter to get a result. We’ll see what happens in the future with all of that.”

“Patrick always talks a lot via the media,” Almeida said, again weighing up every word carefully.
“I don’t really read it all very much, I don’t engage with it and keep things to myself. I think I got good results. When I said goodbye to Deceuninck-QuickStep, the whole team, the soigneur, the mechanics, the directeur sportif and other riders, they were happy for me and wished me well. That’s why I rode for them right to the end of the season too.”

“I’m sure there’ll always be a good team plan and I’ll always follow that plan. I’m looking forward to racing with Tadej, who wouldn’t be? We can help each other a lot, rather than get in each other's way. I like to work for other riders too and to help them win. That excites me, I’m not just a leader with an ego.”

“I think it’s important to save your legs and save your brain too because it’ takes a lot of mental strength and mental energy to focus on the GC in two Grand Tours in the same season. I prefer to avoid going over the edge because I hope to have a long successful career."
 
Thanks.

It seems he was actually rather happy at DQT and felt appreciated but the reason he chose for UAE was mainly because they offered him a 5-year deal, not the money per se. Interesting that he seems to suggest Evenepoel being the stronger rider of the two, but that he (Almeida) is calmer and has to ride smarter / preserve energy in order to perform. He doesn't/didn't give much attention to what Lefevere says in the media. Maybe he could teach other riders to do the same, lol.
 
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It doesn't seem to be behind a paywall for me, but here go some highlights:
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Anyway thanks for the recap, but it seems Toby's trick worked, to open the article in ingognito mode.
 
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Some more bits.

His race could have been so different without the presence of Evenepoel but, in contrast to his now-former teammate, Almeida is not interested in polemics and public post-race analysis.

“I look back at the Giro in a positive light because I felt good in the third week and was getting better and better. We had two plans in the Giro and we did just what we had to do,” he said, a long silence perhaps expressing more than his words.


I urge everyone to listen to the podcast he did with Bobby and Jens this summer. Jens picks up on where Almeida is digging at Remco where Remco isn't even mentioned. Jens might be more perceptive than most or he's projecting, I don't know. But he really puts Almeida on the spot much more than an article can.

He's not that innocent :D
 
Rewatched Stelvio 2020 stage today to see how I would see it. Quite different from how I saw Almeida 2020. The Work he did despite falling back as hard as he did was rather admirable. Also interesting watching Masnada yoyoing completely.
He wants podium next year.
 
He wants podium next year.
He should.

Wait! Do I suddenly understand Portuguese now?! He said "obrigato do covid" or something. That must mean "thanks to covid"?!

You give me a link to listen to that angelic voice before I go to sleep. I swear I wouldn't care about this rider was it not for that voice. :joycat: It's so weird. In my head he and Vingegaard should switch voices because neither fit their voice as I would have imagined they would sound hadn't I heard them. Both voices shocked me when I first heard them :grinning: I am aware that says nothing about them, but about me lol.
 
He should.

Wait! Do I suddenly understand Portuguese now?! He said "obrigato do covid" or something. That must mean "thanks to covid"?!

You give me a link to listen to that angelic voice before I go to sleep. I swear I wouldn't care about this rider was it not for that voice. :joycat: It's so weird. In my head he and Vingegaard should switch voices because neither fit their voice as I would have imagined they would sound hadn't I heard them. Both voices shocked me when I first heard them :grinning: I am aware that says nothing about them, but about me lol.
Ahah he said "obrigado pelo convite", which means thanks for the invitation :tearsofjoy: but you were close in "obrigato/obrigado! Portuguese it's a difficult language.
 
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"Froome, post: 2648979, member: 127577"]

"He didn't come to work for nobody".
[/QUOTE]
That worked fine with Google translate :) I like that very clear message of him not working for Pog.

I was surprised the only one decided is Rui Costa for giro with Almeida. PSC has Ulissi for the giro and I would be surprised if he didn't go there.

I wonder about Covi and even Hodeg.

I assume Ineos or Bahrain will win the giro. Carapaz was my favorite to win even before the route was announced and before it was announced that he would go. Or Martinez if he's fully recovered.
 
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