João Almeida comes short of both GC lead and stage victory: "I was strong today and we're motivated for the next stages"
Cycling
Despite an all-out action on the slopes of Font de Partegat, Mathias Vacek remains in the overall lead of Volta a Comunitat Valenciana. The last climbs of the second stage saw UAE Team Emirates - XRG on the attack and eager to make differences. However in the end, they were beaten to it by Bahrain-Victorious duo Santiago Buitrago and Pello Bilbao. UAE's leader João Almeida finished third, 13 seconds further down the road.
This puts him within just two seconds of the Czech rider who can look forward to even greater offense from the Portuguese tomorrow. However Almeida will need to look over his own shoulder too, because Buitrago is only 3 seconds behind with Bilbao and Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) within his sight too.
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"It's disappointing not to win the stage, but the guys were impressive today," Almeida had nice words about his teammates' work after the finish. "We knew we had to set a good pace to make things difficult for the leader and in the end both Filippo Baroncini and Felix Großschartner rode very well." the Portuguese rider told the team's official website.
"In the end, the plan was always to use our numbers and with Pavel and Brandon, we managed to do it well. Once I got into my rhythm, I was able to ride strongly and that gives us optimism for the next stages," he concluded.
Provisional GC of Volta a Comunitat Valenciana after Stage 2:
| Position | Rider | Team | Time |
| 01 | Vacek Mathias | Lidl-Trek | 04:48:10 |
| 02 | Almeida Joao | UAE Team Emirates | + 02 |
| 03 | Buitrago Santiago | Bahrain Victorious | + 05 |
| 04 | Bilbao Pello | Bahrain Victorious | + 16 |
| 05 | Arensman Thymen | INEOS Grenadiers | + 19 |
| 06 | McNulty Brandon | UAE Team Emirates | + 27 |
| 07 | Rodriguez Carlos | INEOS Grenadiers | + 28 |
| 08 | Cepeda Jefferson | Movistar Team | + 30 |
| 09 | Romeo Ivan | Movistar Team | + 48 |
| 10 | Martinez Lenny | Bahrain Victorious | + 54 |
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- Funny that they shorten women’s races but have no qualms about letting U23 do the same distances.Jumpyjohn23-03-2025
- Why is that relevant when discussing speed?Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- But he wasn’t the only one ;-)Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- Obviously the questions are more important to some here than to them or the team so I suggest looking for answers instead of asking questions between ourselves. We’ll probably get them unless someone actually goes to ask the protagonists themselves. Here are some starters : They like riding together; they have their own rivalry that helps bring out the best in both; they might get more points helping each other compared to racing separate races. In any case, unless we hear MJ complaining about it, I don’t think it’s going to change, it’s the Sepp Kuss syndrome all over again, fans lobbying against the will of the rider.Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- Mine goes to MVDP for entertaining us all year round :-) Stellar race, Ganna impressive in his own way as many predicted after some oddly lacklustre times.Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- i remember when not too long ago mathieu was regarded as a real tactical knucklehead. i’m not sure that was ever quite accurate, but it’s certainly the case that over the years he has become a real master tactician. in the biggest races, van der poel rarely makes choices that don’t fully optimize every specific advantage he has.OCexile23-03-2025
- Whatever the result, I believe the strategy by UAE to launch Pogacar was absolutely the right one. Unfortunately, they just were not able to execute it the way they must have planned, being all over the place at the start of the Cipressa.Cooldude23-03-2025
- They are without doubt not just the best two classics riders of this generation, but amongst the best of all time. MvdP is more suited to MSR and PR (which Pog has yet to race), while Pog is now almost untouchable at LBL and Lombardia. RVV is the only one where both basically have an equal chance to win.Cooldude23-03-2025
- bravissima!
maria2024202423-03-2025 - According to Tadej's Strava upload, he went up the Cipressa at an average speed of 37.6kph. Rocket ship! He did the 5.63km verified 'Cipressa' Strava segment in 8:59 minutes, which has a 4.3% average grade and total elevation gain of 229m. Naturally, he got the Strava KOM.Pogboom23-03-2025