After Del Toro, UAE is also surprised by Almeida, but has no regrets about chasing Vuelta stages

The fact that João Almeida was unable to break Vingegaard on Saturday at Bola del Mundo was initially due to a lack of legs. The Portuguese rider admitted, as did Vingegaard in the second week, that he had been ill. As a result, his body was no longer performing as well as it had when Almeida won impressively on day 13 on the Angliru and seemed capable of challenging Vingegaard.

It never came to a real battle, even though UAE did everything it could in stage 20 to make something happen. “The plan was simple: tire the riders' legs and ride for the stage win, because there were bonus seconds at stake,” sports director Mauro Gianetti explained to Eurosport.

"We did our best, the whole team was strong, but Vingegaard was too and deserved this victory. He won with panache," Gianetti complimented the Visma star. UAE certainly did not come away empty-handed: in addition to Almeida's second place in the general classification, the team won the team classification, the mountain classification with Jay Vine, and recorded seven (!) stage wins.

The hunt for Vuelta stages began in the first week, and even when Almeida emerged as Vingegaard's challenger for the overall victory in the second week, UAE continued to send its climbers to the front of the breakaways. In stage 20, we saw a full UAE train at the front for the first time, working for the Portuguese rider, but he was unable to finish it off on the Bola del Mundo.

Nevertheless, Gianetti saw a revelation in this Vuelta. “For us, this has been a very important Vuelta because we have discovered a new dimension to Almeida, close to the level of Vingegaard. We are satisfied that we have discovered this, after the level of Isaac Del Toro in the Giro d'Italia. I am happy with this season, and Jonas deserves this overall victory.”

In the end, didn't such a good Almeida deserve a little more support? “Ultimately, all the riders acted like serious professionals. I don't think we could have done much differently, because Vingegaard was stronger. He dropped Almeida twice on the climbs, and although we made up some time in the time trials, we couldn't do any more.”

"That's also why Joxean Matxin (sports director, ed.) decided to go for stage wins, because a win is a win," explained Gianetti. "For our team, it's also important to give everyone a chance to win so that we can share the emotions. We know how important it is to feel that, after all the work these guys do. We are extremely pleased."