[ad_1]
This Thursday, João Almeida, a Deceuninck-QuickStep rider, maintained the leadership of the Giro.
The Portuguese João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) held the leadership of the Tour of Italy on Thursday, the day his parents visited him, giving the young pink jersey “a special motivation” until Sunday.
In a “very difficult” day, with “almost six hours” of stage, in addition to “rain and cold”, which he said were elements that he did not like at all, he managed to “hold the shirt”, the main objective, after have seen the parents on the way out.
“I am a calm person, without stress, even if I have my days. I am calm. It is an extra motivation to have my parents, to feel a bit at home here, although I feel very good with the team. They stay until Sunday, it is a reinforcement, ”he told reporters at the end of the 12th stage, won by the Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS).
Asked by journalists about their opinion on the completion of the stages of the third and last week, in high mountains and in snowy areas and with very bad weather, he said that being with the rose means that he cannot “ask that the race finish.” .
“It is not a decision that belongs to me, it is the organization. I will continue fighting to get the shirt. (…) The situation is not good, the weather is very bad here and we are not yet in the north. [de Itália]. You can imagine for the week, above two thousand meters … that was the situation of the pandemic ”, he warned.
In what has become a custom, he praised the “perfect work” of the “perfect team”, since since he wore the pink shirt he has reinforced the effort of his teammates and keep it with them.
“Today was the same as every day: it was difficult, but the team helped me. (…) I feel good, but also the other cyclists, so we will have a very good race in the near future,” he shot. .
Asked about the time trial on Saturday, in which he could set time differences for other favorites, similar to what he achieved in the opening time, he confirmed that it fits his characteristics. But there is still a stage on Friday ”, in which he has to defend the leadership.
João Almeida cut the goal today in ninth and continues to lead the general, ahead of the Dutch Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) in second to 34 seconds and the Spanish Pello Bilbao (Bahrein-McLaren) in third to 43, with Ruben Guerreiro (Education First) , eighth today, ahead in the mountain classification.
On Friday, Stage 13 joins Cervia with Monselice over 192 kilometers, on a mostly flat stage but with two fourth category mountain counts in the last 40 kilometers, before Saturday’s time trial.
[ad_2]
