O 27-year-old cyclist was pleased to have finished the stage in security and to return to the competition after the abandonment in the return to France.
Portuguese cyclist João Almeida (UAE Emirates) stressed this Sunday to have ended and saved a chaotic second stage of the return to Spain, in which he lost two seconds to the new leader, Danish Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease Bike).
“It was a hard day, a bit chaotic, with falls, everyone very nervous. Fortunately we were able to be ahead in a good position. In the end, we gave everything we had, but the others were stronger. One day in this Vuelta where we could lose the Velta, but we managed to end up and saved,” he said in statements to his press office.
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) climbed the leadership of Vuelta, after imposing on the first arrival at the 80th edition, at the end of 159.5 kilometers between Alba and Limone Piemonte, in Italy, having four seconds of advance over Italian Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and six over French David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), with João Almeida to be 11th, 12 seconds, after being fifth in the tirad, two.
João Almeida has not competed since abandoned during the ninth stage of the return to France, after falling two days earlier.
“It’s good to be back to Vuelta and the races. These early days are always a shock to the body, but we are doing our best and trying to continue to evolve,” he said.
On Monday, still in Italy, cyclists from the 80th edition of the Volta to Spain travel 134.6 kilometers, between San Maurizio Canavee and Ceres, with the goal to coincide with a fourth category mountain count.
