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This Portuguese rider from Deceuninck-QuickStep lost his pink jersey at the Giro on Thursday.
The Portuguese João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) said this Thursday he was “proud” of the work he did, on a day in which he lost the Tour lead to Italy, after a “solid performance” that faced rivals “even very strong “.
The 22-year-old cyclist, who dropped to fifth overall in the queen stage, the 18th round he passed through Stelvio on his way to Laghi di Cancano, still in the mountain park, the highest point of the 103rd edition , described a “very difficult stage”, but in which the team “did very well”.
“My feelings weren’t that bad. I felt fatigue, which is normal, but the opponents were very strong. I’m happy with my performance, it was solid. You can’t be super every day, and today they were really strong,” I shoot.
The young rider also thanked the Portuguese for the support, confessed that he cried when he reached the top of Stelvio, seeing “the family and some Portuguese” cheering him on, and in the end he took stock of a “positive step”.
“I was on the edge and I knew I couldn’t keep up [dos adversários] to the top so I took my pace so as not to waste too much time, “he said.
At the moment, he is “quite happy” and “very proud of all the support from the Portuguese”, as well as of the team’s work, even because, even “knowing that he was in a good moment”, he would never expect to spend 15 pink days. “Then do this …” he commented.
Until the end, on Sunday, in Milan, “he will try to keep the position in general” and “give his best”, at a time when he is 2.16 minutes behind the new leader, the Dutch Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb).
The Australian Jai Hindley (Sunweb), who won the 18th stage, is 12 seconds behind the new pink jersey, with the British Tao Geoghegan Hart (INEOS) in third place, at 15, and the Spanish Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren) fourth, at 1.19.
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