'Nobody was with me' - Almeida bemoans lack of UAE support on summit finish
João Almeida limited his losses to 24 seconds to Jonas Vingegaard on stage 9 of the Vuelta a España, but he highlighted the absence of his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates on the final climb to Valdezcaray. Juan Ayuso, winner at Cerler two days ago, came home almost 22 minutes down.
The leadership debate may be resolved, but the kitchen sink drama continues at UAE Team Emirates-XRG. João Almeida placed third on stage 9 of the Vuelta a España, limiting his losses on Jonas Vingegaard to 24 seconds, but the Portuguese rider bemoaned a lack of teammates to help his pursuit on the final climb to Valdezcaray.
Aside from a turn from king of the mountains Jay Vine, Almeida had no teammates close at hand when Vingegaard launched his winning move with 11km remaining. Juan Ayuso, so impressive in winning from the break at Cerler on Friday, was conspicuous by his absence here.
Almeida was compelled to take up the reins of pursuit himself, and he burned the bulk of the podium contenders off his wheel, with only Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) staying with him to the summit.
On the upper portion of the climb, Almeida could be seen admonishing Pidcock for the brevity of his turns, but at the finish line, his frustration seemed to be reserved primarily for his own teammates.
“I could see they were on the limit, so they couldn’t do much,” Almeida told Eurosport of Pidcock and Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R), who had followed him on the climb without contributing much to the pursuit of Vingegaard.
“But I missed maybe a bit my teammates today. Nobody was with me in the end, but yeah, it is what it is.”
That comment will only add further grist to the mill regarding Ayuso’s uneasy presence in this UAE team. Ayuso set off from Turin as the nominal co-leader, though when the Spaniard lost ten minutes at Pal on stage 6, he suggested that his GC challenge had been primarily a media invention.
A day later, Ayuso scored a striking solo victory from the break at Cerler, a performance that suggested he would have plenty to offer as a deluxe domestique for Almeida for the remainder of this Vuelta. At Valdezcaray, however, Almeida was missing in action, coming in almost 22 minutes down on Vingegaard.
Almeida admitted that he had been caught out by Vingegaard’s long-range attack on the final climb. He now lies third overall, 1:15 behind red jersey Torstein Traeen (Bahrain Victorious) and 38 seconds down on the favourite Vingegaard.
“I think they got a bit the factor of surprise, and I think we were not expecting it,” Almeida said. “I was actually in a good position, but they went really hard. In the end, I couldn’t really close the gap.”
Almeida suggested that he might have been able to track Vingegaard to the line had he been on his wheel at the point of his initial acceleration. “It was not so steep, so on the wheel you save a lot,” he said. “I think I could go with him – but you never know, right?”
