Roglic and Evenepoel "were just at another level" - João Almeida

Joao Almeida has been in the group of favorites in the Volta a Catalunya for two days, but so far without any chance to compete against Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic. The Portuguese rider of UAE Team Emirates had better luck with the bike today at La Molina, but couldn't make it count.

The Portuguese was in the GC group when Remco Evenepoel launched an attack, but did not have the change of pace to go with them. "They were just at another level today," he said of Evenepoel and Roglic. "That's why I don't think anyone wanted to follow them. In the end I think the rest of us were just fighting for third place".

Regarding his personal performance, he confesses that he was very tired after yesterday's stage and is happy to have reached the finish line alongside Giulio Ciccone and Mikel Landa, his main rivals for third place: "Personally I wasn't feeling good today, I made a big effort yesterday and today I paid for it. I'm happy to have arrived with the rest of the guys and I don't think I lost any time to Ciccone and Landa. So survive today and Friday will be another day," he concluded.

UAE Team Emirates continue to have Marc Soler as a slight card for the GC, but it's Almeida who's carrying the torch despite less favorable conditions. He now sits fifth in the overall classification, 44 seconds down on both Roglic and Evenepoel.