Almeida admits Vuelta heat is taking a heavy toll: 'I always struggle a lot with it'

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) admitted that he has been struggling with the extreme heat at the Vuelta a España, as he expressed his concerns that riders are being pushed to their limits. 

“I think the heat is a bit limiting because we are reaching the limit of the human body, which is a bit dangerous,” Almeida told Cyclingnews ahead of stage 15. 

Temperatures in Andalusia forced the Vuelta organisers to cut 79km from Sunday’s stage after riders and teams had raised concerns about the conditions in previous stages. 

Almeida said that preparing for hot weather and actually racing in it are two very different dynamics. 

“It’s not easy to explain, but it’s kind of part of our preparation to do heat training, and so you can ride in these conditions. You ride easy, it’s no problem and get plenty of water and refresh yourself.”

“But it’s not easy to race for us, it’s different so it can definitely be dangerous. We need to look out for each other.”

The Portuguese rider admitted that he has regularly found the extreme heat difficult to contend with, and in particular, the bigger issue of the accumulation of several days in the heat. 

“I always struggle a lot with. For me it’s hard and it affects me a lot. I think it’s the same for everybody but some guys are better than others. And it’s one of these things where you really can’t make any mistakes, otherwise you’re in big trouble.”

“You saw how it affected the guys yesterday, but it’s also day after day. The dehydration and the heat, yeah, it’s no joke.”

The shortened stage still saw temperatures above 40°C, with Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) reporting a 41°C average on his power meter and 44°C on the opening climb. 

Meanwhile, UAE manager Joxean Fernández Matxin has suggested that cycling should reconsider start times when temperatures become extreme, even if that means changing the television schedules. 

Beyond the heat, Almeida believes that his condition is improving after a difficult season, and the UAE rider remains optimistic there are signs of progress ahead of the third and final week. 

“I think my condition is improving here, within the limits I have, of course because miracles don’t really happen from one day to the other.”

“So we keep trying. We keep doing out best. That’s everything I can do.”