"I thought for a moment that I could come back" - João Almeida agonizingly close to Tour de Pologne win

João Almeida is building his path onto the Vuelta a Espana and he's using the Tour de Pologne as a launchpad. At the first test he's shown good signs, coming close to the stage win.

“We wanted to play our strengths. We have a strong squad, so why not?" Almeida told Wielerflits in a post-race interview. "It looked good because if Matej didn't close the gap in the end, he could have made it." He tells how Rafal Majka attacked on the steepest section of the climb, UAE Team Emirates had the numbers and were close to succeeding, however the Bahrain - Victorious rider closed down the move and was the strongest on the day.

He launched his sprint early but despite that he had the legs to keep himself in front. Almeida was the only rider able to match the early acceleration, but had to settle for second place. “I thought for a moment that I could come back, but he was quite fast. Still, I'm happy with second place. "

However that is far from a negative thing, Almeida places himself now as a big contender for the overall victory in Pologne, whilst simultaneously confirming his form just weeks before the start of the Vuelta a Espana. "My training camp in Andorra was quite good, so I will only take good experiences from this ride," he concluded.