Alberto Contador: "Almeida is one of the clear candidates to finish on the podium"

Stage 7 will be an important day at the Giro d'Italia. The peloton takes on the first summit finish on what is a very long ascent to Gran Sasso d'Italia. Alberto Contador has talked about someone he believes will be a great contender for the pink jersey: João Almeida.

“For me, Almeida is one of the clear candidates to finish on the podium. I would put Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel a bit ahead, because they have had a tremendous year, but, for me, Almeida is one of the clear candidates to get, at least, on the podium of this Giro d'Italia," Contador told Eurosport ahead of stage 7. “He is a regular rider who goes from strength to strength, and we are talking about very long climbs. He is perhaps the rider who is closest to Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic.”

The Portuguese sits fourth in the overall classification into the difficult stage, 32 seconds back on Remco Evenepoel - and the first of the big favourites behind the World Champion. In past years he's shown the quality and consistency required to win a Grand Tour, and he came in with a lot of ambition to this Corsa Rosa and a preparation which has seen him healthy.

“Almeida has been solid without being spectacular but that is what you want at this stage in the race, we are very early days. Tomorrow is the first big test. Although it’s 40km uphill to the finish, the part that really counts for the contenders is the last 6.5km," Robbie McEwen argued. Having avoided crashes and time losses so far, the UAE Team Emirates rider settles as the leader of UAE as Jay Vine has lost time and Brandon McNulty is focusing on stage wins.

The GC will be more organized this afternoon and riders will understand better what their ambitions should be after arriving at Campo Imperatore, the high altitude, tough gradients in the final and overall tough day will put the riders to the test after a very stressful first week.

"That is proper climbing and they go above 2000m altitude where it will start really burning. This is where the GC contenders will really start to make their mark. Almeida will just stay at a steady state and ride himself in and out of the picture," McEwen concluded.