"I decided not to overtake him at the finish line" - João Almeida held himself back to reward teammate Christen with breakthrough Algarve win

The second stage of the Volta ao Algarve ended on a high with the finish at Alto da Fóia. On a very blustery day and without the traditional wind that is usually felt on this climb, the race wasn't held back and we saw a great spectacle, which ended with victory for Jan Christen, of UAE Team Emirates - XRG, followed by his leader João Almeida, who 'let' him the win.

João Almeida took off in the final kilometer and cut the deficit he had with his teammate, who was still isolated at the top, gaining time on all the competitors in the general classification. In the end, he was satisfied with the result: "The climb was good, it wasn't that tough. We put in a good performance, the whole team did very well. Today (Thursday, ed.), we achieved our goal," said the Portuguese rider.

Almeida didn't get into a good position on the penultimate climb of the day, but he quickly managed to recover position and respond promptly to the accelerations of Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard: "The plan was to get into a good position on Pomba, then it's a bit every man for himself, because it's uphill. We managed to get Jan Christen into a group and we didn't have to work behind. I felt good. I only attacked at the end when I realized that Christen already had the win in his pocket, out of respect. I've got a teammate at the front, I simply can't push my opponents back. He deserved the win and I decided not to overtake him at the finish line. I'm happy with my performance".

Almeida recognizes that he has strengthened his ambitions after this stage, but everything will be decided in the final time trial, "Without a doubt. I'm in a good position. If there's no bad luck, it'll be the [time trial in] Malhão that will decide the race."

The UAE rider also commented on the performance of Jonas Vingegaard, who won 10 seconds on the road plus 6 seconds bonus, "I don't know, you have to ask him. The expectation was much higher [for the Dane's result], but I think it's positive to finish ahead of him. I don't think he [Vingagaard] was disappointed, it's his first race of the season. He came here to test himself a bit. I think he knows what he's got in him," concluded Almeida.