"I was waiting for an attack anytime" - João Almeida surprised with Jonas Vingegaard's conservativism in Angliru showdown
Cycling
Few would've expected it, but Jonas Vingegaard was not the strongest and was beaten at the Alto de l'Angliru. The hardest climb of the Vuelta marked the start of the key part of the race, but the Dane saw his lead to João Almeida shortened after the Portuguese outsprinted him atop the end of stage 13.
"This is a special one, I still don't believe it. Thanks to my teammates, they were key today, we did an amazing stage," Almeida said in a post-race interview. Visma put in the effort to control the breakaway on the 13th day of the race, but as soon as the two climbs leading up to the Angliru began, it was Q36.5 and UAE who took over the front of the peloton, looking to provide the confidence and positioning to their men instead of letting Visma control the race at will.
On the final climb, Jay Vine and Felix Grossschartner did an amazing leadout job for the Portuguese who took over the head of the GC group with 6 kilometers to go. He dropped everyone but Jonas Vingegaard on one of cycling's hardest climbs, and although there was little to no benefit in slipstreaming, Jonas Vingegaard was unable to leave Almeida's wheel.
Almeida leading Vingegaard up the Angliru
The attack that didn't come
"I just put my pace from the bottom, and I did the best I could. Jonas was always in the wheel. Last K I was on the limit, I guess we were both on the limit," he says. And by the time that the duo reached the summit of the Angliru, they were still together. The donwhill finale was very fast, narrow and technical, but this wouldn't be a surprise to any of them.
"I was waiting for an attack anytime and I thought he was going to pass me at the finish line but I knew the finish line quite well from two years ago and I took first the last corner and it was hard to pass... It was an amazing day". The red jersey didn't come through, and Almeida could celebrate a stage victory that didn't seem overly likely at the start of the day.
"This is the hardest climb in the world, it's crazy. I still have a lot of time to make up to Jonas, he's looking phenomenal so i think it's going to be a hard task, but we'll never give up". The gap has been reduced to 46 seconds, but UAE's dreams of an overall win have grown.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 9visitors 5
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
Loading
2 Comments