"I'm ready to show who is João Almeida" - UAE climber brings back and beats Vingegaard at Paris-Nice summit finish
Cycling
João Almeida and UAE Team Emirates - XRG did not have the best of team time-trials and lost significant time to the Visma group. However today João Almeida proved that the team is ready to fight for the victory at Paris-Nice, after he directly beat Jonas Vingegaard in the race's first summit finish.
"I'm super happy it was kind of a hard day, a lot happening on the stage of course. We had some snowing, but I never gave up. I think we deserved it and I'm very happy with it," the Portugues rider said in the flash interview. It was a brutal day for the riders who had a neutralized section to the day, stopping twice, after the peloton was being hit by a full-fledged hailstorm.
Historically speaking Almeida usually struggled with the bad weather, but today we saw the opposite. "I was feeling quite good, I'm not the best guy with the cold temperatures, I was suffering a bit with that but I never gave up". Jonas Vingegaard launched an attack with just over 2 kilometers to go and it looked obvious that Almeida had the best legs behind, as he paced the group in his traditional style.
"The climb just wasn't steep enough so it was hard to put the group smaller even. Jonas attacked, it was a good moment, I was not in the best position". But in the final kilometer the difference of pace was big, and Almeida forced the pace to such a level that no-one could follow his wheel, and he would then catch up with Vingegaard in the final meters of the stage and take the win.
"Yesterday was not our day, we had some setbacks. But yeah yesterday was yesterday, today was another opportunity," he continued. "We need to take the positives from yesterday I was feeling really good and I did a good effort. We lose as a team and we win as a team and I think we deserved it today".
This performance puts him up to 5th position, 37 seconds away from Jonas Vingegaard, now as a prime candidate for the podium but perhaps even the victory. "I think we can, but it's not just up to me you know. I think my shape is good, I feel good, and I'm ready to show who is João Almeida but yeah, not everything goes as planned. I'll give my best," he concluded.
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Wow! Joao Almeida takes stage 4 of Paris-Nice with an INCREDIBLE late surge! 🚀🔥 First win of the season for him. #ParisNicehttps://t.co/f3XKygv2nZ pic.twitter.com/5WKiChvtpW
— Eemeli (@LosBrolin) March 12, 2025
He beat Jonas twice this year, which is strange. Jonas doesn't appear to be as dominant as he was early last year before the crash. But the climb today wasn't long and hard enough for Jonas.
Jonas shouldn't have been attacking the GC leader from his team ! Selfish !
I don't see that as attacking his team leader. Jorgenson was only ahead of Jonas by a few seconds. Jonas was covering Martinez's attack earlier before launching his own. Jorgenson would have lost today's stage regardless because he didn't have the legs to answer Almeida. It was a great team work because the worse co-leader went on an attack, so the rival team had to chase down while the leader Jorgenson could sit on Almeida's wheel, saved energy and mark him. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out because Almeida was the strongest. It looks like textbook strategy and it's different from the scenario in La Vuelta 23.
How do you know what they might have decided between them? Seems MJ wasn’t too sure of his form when it came to the crunch. As for Jonas, he probably isn’t worse than in 2023 when he won the Tour so I’m not going to make much out of this result for projecting, happy for Almeida he finally got another win to add to is many seconds and thirds.
Agree with Keris, Team would have lost the GC if Jonas hadn’t attacked.
That's the way I saw it play out too. The guys like to hate on Jonas.
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- That's the way I saw it play out too. The guys like to hate on Jonas.Cyclingsbestfan13-03-2025
- Yougot there in the end Roadman.Cyclingsbestfan13-03-2025
- Agree with Keris, Team would have lost the GC if Jonas hadn’t attacked.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- How do you know what they might have decided between them? Seems MJ wasn’t too sure of his form when it came to the crunch. As for Jonas, he probably isn’t worse than in 2023 when he won the Tour so I’m not going to make much out of this result for projecting, happy for Almeida he finally got another win to add to is many seconds and thirds.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- Alles klar!roadman5412113-03-2025
- I think neutralisation was correct, there was sleet on the road, an official motorcycle and a team car crashed. They should however give clear instructions when they will restart and give enough time to each team to change clothes, warm up, etcvappaxbipmv13-03-2025
- I don't see that as attacking his team leader. Jorgenson was only ahead of Jonas by a few seconds. Jonas was covering Martinez's attack earlier before launching his own. Jorgenson would have lost today's stage regardless because he didn't have the legs to answer Almeida. It was a great team work because the worse co-leader went on an attack, so the rival team had to chase down while the leader Jorgenson could sit on Almeida's wheel, saved energy and mark him. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out because Almeida was the strongest. It looks like textbook strategy and it's different from the scenario in La Vuelta 23.
KerisVroom13-03-2025 - This trend of neutralizing parts of races or even cancelling them, is increasingly worrying for the sport. Over time, they will want to cancel for weather that is less and less 'severe'. It is an outdoor sport on roads. It will ruin the sport if it continues.SuperConfexYokoOno13-03-2025
- Ok, thanks for clearing that up.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- He complained his team didn’t do their work expected for him in the first stage, this time he pulled the whole peleton back practically solo for Skjelmose to show how it’s done.Mistermaumau13-03-2025