João Almeida reflects on mixed week in Valencia: "Sometimes you're the hammer sometimes you're the nail"

João Almeida will race over 80 days this year, virtually all in stage-races. The Portuguese rider is looking to bring in as many good results as possible and the year almost started with a win at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana. He finishes the week with a second place behind Santiago Buitrago, but laments having lost the jersey on the penultimate stage.

On a pan-flat final day of racing, there was still the danger of crosswinds, and UAE Team Emirates - XRG was keeping a close eye on it. However the opportunity to create echelons and put the Colombian under pressure didn't show up: "We showed our strength, also today we tried our luck there was wind... Unfortunately not everyone was there, but we did a good job we sticked to the plan. I'm proud of the team and we keep fighting," the Portuguese rider said in a post-race interview.

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Despite the modest team time-trial, Almeida jumped to second in the overall classification after the queen stage on stage 2. The next day Mathias Vacek struggled and Almeida matched Buitrago to jump into the race lead. It was his race to lose, but he did end up losing it in unexpected circumstances on stage 4, as the Bahrain - Victorious soared to a brutal stage win, winning 10 seconds on a small hilltop finish on Almeida - besides the bonifications. It pushed him down to runner-up spot, but nevertheless he doesn't see the result negatively.

"It was very very positive, I'm happy with the week, I think the team did a good job. We fought for the win which was good, the win was quite close," he continued. "Yesterday I was not so great, I was not feeling 100% but it's cycling sometimes you're the hammer sometimes you're the nail. Overall I'm pretty happy with the first race of the season, starting with a second place is not bad at all. Let's keep focus on the next goals and focus on the next ones".

Now, Almeida goes to his home country to race the Figueira Champions Classic but above all the Volta ao Algarve in the coming weeks, where he will be amongst the main favourites alongside none other than Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic. "I go back to Portugal because of Figueira and Algarve the next races the next week, so yeah i think I'm going there with a pretty good amount of confidence and eyes on the prize," he concluded.

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