Joao Almeida suggests that wind in Valencia wasn't as dangerous: "But I think to not ride on TT bikes was a good decision"

This year's Volta a Comunitat Valenciana won't go down as an edition with very attractive parcours, but that didn't stop some of world's elite cyclists from signing up for the race. Given the kind parcours of the regular stages, a decisive verdict was expected in the stage 2 individual time trial, which is why Remco Evenepoel and Joao Almeida were dubbed as pre-race favourites.

However the strong wind in the region of Valencia continues to play with the peloton. While in stage 1, its effects allowed for some exciting races in final 50 kilometers, today the influence was much less appreciated by regular fans. That's because the times recorded during the chrono would not count towards general classification, neutralizing the entire day.

And so, some riders like Joao Almeida have taken a day off and completed the course at a rather leisurely pace in 88th place, losing way over three minutes on today's winner Remco Evenepoel. "Some gusts were quite extreme, especially when you came into the open," Almeida told CyclingProNet afterwards.

Although the Portuguese star later admitted that his experience was not as horrifying as for some of his rivals, who called the time trial dangerous: "Actually I don't think was too bad either. But I think to not ride on TT bikes was a good decision."

Regardless, Almeida sounded a little bit disappointed that there weren't the right circumstances to test his legs against the time trial world champion. Especially as the time trial seemed like a one-way ticket to a top GC result.

"I think for me it was a really good time trial, especially because there's no really hard climbs. It's still going to be a really hard race, but just not the best one for me. So the time trial was actually a really good chance for me to secure at least a place on the podium. Of course also for Remco," he adds.

But the race is not yet over. There are three more stages to ride, and gaps can open up at any moment. "There's still a really good race ahead of us and we need to focus on the next days."

Especially with the wind conditions that are predicted anything but to weaken in the coming days. For experienced professionals such as Almeida, that's a clearn signal of what's to come: "The wind is strong. Maybe there'll be echelons tomorrow," Almeida hints at a possible action in Friday's relatively straightforward stage with a single obstacle on the course. "We never know, but we're going to be ready. Yesterday I wasn't invited to the party, so I hope not to miss it tomorrow," Almeida concludes.

Although Thursday's time trial didn't move a needle towards the overall standings, Joao Almeida's GC bid at Volta a Comunitat Valenciana could've been already over after the opening stage. When Movistar and Soudal - Quick-Step launched on the day's lone KOM sprint, Almeida was caught behind a split caused by a crash that involved Mads Pedersen among others, and had a lot of chasing to do to return to the main group in the last third of the stage.

The Danish Classics specialist was forced to abandon the race with multiple injuries as a consequence, but Almeida fortunately escaped unscathed and later managed to rejoin with the main group up the road. "I was lucky that I didn't crash. So, I'm happy for that," he confided.