'We never give up' - Almeida eyes Vuelta victory after Angliru exhibition
João Almeida couldn't drop Jonas Vingegaard on the Angliru on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España, but he put the Dane under fierce pressure all the way up the climb and then outsprinted him at the summit to close the gap on GC to 46 seconds.
The Vuelta a España remains a contest after the mighty Alto de l’Angliru. Jonas Vingegaard had hoped to become the first maillot rojo to win atop the summit, but he had to settle for second place behind a rampant João Almeida, who delivered the finest display of his career in Asturias.
Although his stablemate Juan Ayuso was surprisingly distanced on the preceding Alto del Cordal, Almeida’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad led the GC group into the Angliru and they set the tempo all the way up the climb.
Almeida himself took over with 6.5km to go after Felix Grossschartner swung off, and Vingegaard was the only rider who could resist his forcing on the steepest portions of the climb. He was unable to shake off Vingegaard, but he rode sagely as the road flattened out in the final kilometre to claim the win. Almeida’s victory was UAE’s sixth of this Vuelta and their 79th of the season so far.
“This is a special one. I still don’t believe it,” Almeida said afterwards. “Thanks to my teammates, they were key today. We did an amazing stage.”
King of the mountains Jay Vine set a brisk tempo into the foot of the Angliru, and Ivo Oliveira and Grossschartner contributed before Almeida hit the front. He acknowledged that the steep ascent suited his qualities as a diesel.
“I think this is the hardest climb in the world, it’s crazy. I’m glad it’s over,” Almeida smiled.
“I just did my pace on the bottom, and I just did the best I could. Jonas was always on the wheel. In the last kilometre I was on the limit. I guess we were both on the limit. I was waiting for his attack at any time, and I thought he was going to pass me on the finish line."
“But I knew the finish quite well from two years ago, and I took first place into the last corner. It’s hard to pass, so it was an amazing day.”
Although Almeida won the stage, his gains on Vingegaard were limited to four bonus seconds. In the overall standings, he remains second overall, 46 seconds down on the Dane. With a time trial to come in the final week, Almeida will be heartened about his prospects of overall victory.
“I still have a lot of time to make up to Jonas, he’s looking phenomenal,” Almeida said. “I think it will be a hard task, but we never give up.”
