Almeida trained for 2.5 weeks, Ayuso suddenly removed from World Championships prep: these are UAE’s Pogacar alternatives against Vingegaard

It was already known earlier this year that Almeida was earmarked for the Vuelta. The 27-year-old Portuguese rider was initially set to support Pogačar in both the Tour and the Vuelta, but with the Slovenian sitting this one out, Almeida now gets the chance to go all-in for himself. However, he has to do so with limited preparation, as Almeida crashed out of the Tour with broken ribs, and told A Bola that he’s only been able to train at full intensity for 2.5 weeks. Is that enough to challenge Vingegaard? “Let’s see. I feel good on the bike and those 2.5 weeks of training went really well,” Almeida said.

“The week before that I could train a bit, but not at 100% yet. We didn’t want to rush anything, but I think I’m ready. Let’s take it day by day, but I’m feeling good.” This will be Almeida’s fourth consecutive season doing two grand tours in one year. “It’s tough because it takes a lot of mental focus and energy. But personally, I love it. Grand tours are my favorite races. If you do two in a row, it is harder because you don’t have much time to properly prepare, since you’re still recovering from the last one.”

Almeida wants to grow into the Vuelta to fight Vingegaard in the crucial stages, with Ayuso at his side. "Jonas is the clear favorite, he’s won the Tour de France twice and is one of the best riders of his generation. But we’re strong too and we should have confidence in ourselves. Both teams are powerful, but we have two cards to play, and that gives us an advantage. Visma only has one. That’s something we can try to use to our benefit, although, in the end, it all comes down to the legs.”

Ayuso has had his own share of setbacks this year. The 22-year-old Spanish climber was already fully recovered from the knee injury that forced him to abandon the Giro d’Italia, a race that had been one of his top goals. The withdrawal came after an unfortunate wasp sting. “At first, it was really tough to abandon the Giro, it was one of my biggest targets of the season, but sometimes you just don’t have a choice. So I took a vacation and did normal things again, things I hadn’t been able to do in the months before the Giro,” the Spanish climbing talent sounded relaxed.

On paper, that meant Ayuso had more time to prepare for the Vuelta, but that wasn’t actually the plan. He wasn’t initially scheduled to ride his beloved home race. “The World Championships were my big goal after the Giro, so I started training again step by step, without rushing things. But then, after the Tour de France and just before the Clásica San Sebastián, I got the call to ride the Vuelta,” he explained, referring to the decision by Pogačar and the team to skip the Vuelta in favor of rest. That call came in early August. “I’m happy to be here,” Ayuso concluded.

The fact that Almeida and Ayuso are now being paired together as a new leadership duo is not an issue, according to Ayuso. “We’ve raced together a lot in the past, I think this is actually the first year where we’ve followed different race programs. In previous years, there was even a season where I did nearly every race with João. We know each other well.” Almeida added: “The team mainly tried to maximize results by splitting up the strongest riders and getting the most out of each race that way. I think it worked really well.”

Bram van der Ploeg ( Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])