"I'd like to wear it" - João Almeida eyes Vingegaard's Vuelta lead as race goes into Andorran mountains

The Vuelta a Espana didn't change dramatically over stage 5 as the riders arrived to Spain, but UAE Team Emirates - XRG's Juan Ayuso and João Almeida have managed to close down half of their gap to Jonas Vingegaard in the race's sole team time-trial.

The timed exercise was marked by high speed from the very first kilometers, with the Emirates team imposing a pace that quickly proved to be very strong. Cohesion was evident and the group managed to remain compact until the end, respecting the rule that only the fourth man's time counts towards the classification - Ayuso, Almeida, Marc Soler and Mikkel Bjerg.

After the finish, João Almeida, now third in the overall classification, highlighted the meticulous preparation that underpinned the success: "We knew we'd be fighting for the win, but there are a lot of good teams here and we need to be realistic. We did a really perfect job and we deserved it. It's a great victory that shows the value of our team," said the Portuguese.

The 26-year-old also stressed the importance of the internal environment in order to face such a long and demanding race. "I think we need to improve the team atmosphere even more. It's good and gives us confidence, but of course the differences are small, they don't really mean anything, but it's a good start," he said.

When asked about the way the team distributed the efforts and the so-called pulls, Almeida was clear: "It was good. We had a plan. We did everything perfectly. The team was super strong. We had some positive surprises, so it was an incredible collective effort. I think everyone, yes, congratulations to everyone," he added.

In the final kilometers, with the pressure mounting, the Portuguese kept his cool and in control. "We were giving everything. I kept looking back to see where my teammates were, because it was important to make sure the fourth man arrived together. We were together and I kept going to win every second. I'm happy with the result," Almeida added.

Despite the win, Almeida was pragmatic about the fight for the red jersey: "It's even better not to have it today, but I'd like to have it at home tomorrow. I'd like to wear it, of course, it's a nice jersey, I've never worn it before so it would be nice to wear it for the first time. It doesn't matter when, the important thing is that we're getting closer. We'll see if we win it, maybe we will, maybe we won't, but we'll give it everything we've got," he said.