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First there was the mountain, then man arrived, then the bicycle would come so that he could climb nature with the invention on two wheels and, with that, suffer.
Because bending them on the road, turning the hilly belly, requires rigidity and hardness of the muscles, the quads and the groins stiff as a stone to move two rubber circles on the crushed tar with a slope of more than 14%, so imagine the rigidity of the spirit. the man came after the mountain but wants to climb to the top like that, pedaling and suffering. Look at the face of João Almeida.
The Portuguese counted kilometers and kilometers alone, having to shoot alone without anyone pulling alone, only on the monstrous slope of the first serious mountain test that Italy put in his way.
Only in the pursuit of three men who run away from him on stage to chase him in color, the pink he wears has been there for ten days, so he suffers and the suffering is on his face because it burns his body as people. go on his way, encouraging him with gestures of joy.
João Almeida reaches the finish line of the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia with his tongue stretched out, almost all teeth in sight without a pulled trigger to smile, they glimpse with the grimace of pain that the Portuguese accentuates to save two seconds, one second , those who are not to lose more to the three cyclists who are faster than him to travel 185 kilometers with four mountain counts that break a peloton into pieces.
Tim de Waele / Getty
He ends, he abdicates his bicycle, he lies on the tar just now flat, he covers his sullen face with his hands, it is not known if suffering or happiness is hidden, some cross between the two will be.
The Herculean effort, one more, guarantees you a day 13 with the pink jersey in the Tour of Italy, it is almost the first two full weeks in an unexpected leadership, now more epic than any other adjective, when the race enters the third. and mountainous week.
Sunday’s nearly five hours of men taming a mountain on bikes saw the 22-year-old Portuguese arrive just 37 seconds late for Geoghegan Hart Tao, the winner ahead of Wilco Kelderman, the first of the losers on the stage and still in the general classification. The Dutchman has shortened the time, but is still 15 seconds more than João Almeida, the 15 seconds he will sleep on the second rest day of the Giro.
The well-deserved recovery for him and for everyone. On Tuesday there will be more mountain, which appeared first and now will appear almost every day on the road, it will arrive later and João Almeida’s bike will come pink, and leader, like him.
