Almeida downplays lack of UAE support on Vuelta summit finish

João Almeida opted for diplomacy at the summit of the Alto de El Morredero on stage 17 of the Vuelta a España after another afternoon where his imposing UAE Team Emirates-XRG supporting guard failed to add up to the sum of its considerable parts. 

The Portuguese rider was visibly isolated on the category 1 haul to the line, with Juan Ayuso conspicuously distanced long before the climb had begun, eventually coming in more tha 23 minutes down. More surprisingly, Jay Vine, Marc Soler and Felix Grossschartner were marked absent on El Morredero.

By contrast, red jersey Jonas Vingegaard still had Visma | Lease a Bike teammates Ben Tulett and Sepp Kuss for company on the lower slopes of the climb, but Almeida downplayed the disparity when he spoke to FloBikes at the finish.

“If you see, the climb was quite hard. After a little bit I think we were all by ourselves and I think it didn’t change much,” said Almeida, who placed fifth on the stage, two seconds behind his red jersey rival Vingegaard.

Almeida now trails Vingegaard by 50 seconds ahead of Thursday’s pivotal Valladolid time trial. Not for the first time on this Vuelta, there was a relative stalemate between the top two on GC here, even if Almeida was, not for the first time, briefly distanced by Visma’s forcing at the base of the ascent. As is his wont, Almeida calmly bridged back up soon afterwards.

“They were attacking quite hard, and I knew it was not a sustainable pace for them, so I just kept my pace,” Almeida said. “I knew I would get them back.”

The high winds in the finale had led to speculation that the final climb would be removed from the route. That scenario didn’t unfold, but the conditions certainly had an impact on how the stage was raced. When Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) launched his stage-winning move with 3km to go, there was no real reaction from the red jersey group.

“It was quite steep from the first part, it was really hard,” Almeida said. “The second part was super windy, so nobody wanted to spend more. It was a tricky climb. In the end, we almost arrived all together, but some guys just have a better sprint than the others.”

The area around the Alto de El Morredero was devastated by forest fires last month, and the effects of the blaze were visible on charred mountainside. “It was a nice climb, it’s just a pity that everything is dark from the fires a few weeks ago,” Almeida said. “So I also say chapeau to all the fire people who protected the houses.”

Although Visma laid down a brisk tempo at the foot of the climb, Vingegaard’s expected attack never materialised. By Almeida’s reckoning, Vingegaard is showing visible signs of fatigue, but he smilingly added that he isn’t the only one at this point in the Vuelta.

“He was not looking super, but I wasn’t either, so I think we’re all the in same boat,” said Almeida, who could be seen speaking with his rival after Pellizzari had attacked.

“It was just the usual conversation. I was just telling him the wind was quite strong and that was it, nothing special.”