Almeida vs. Vingegaard, but also Hindley (and Pellizzari) vs. Pidcock for a Vuelta podium spot: "I expected more"

The Vuelta a España is heading toward its conclusion, and although three stages remain, everyone knows that for the GC contenders, only stage 20 on Saturday still demands a full effort. With a brutal mountain stage finishing atop the Bola del Mundo, everything can still change... and that’s exactly what Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe is hoping for!

Because in Thursday’s individual time trial, Hindley and Pellizzari failed to take back any time from Pidcock. The 26-year-old Brit from Q36.5 was even three seconds faster than Hindley, increasing the gap between third and fourth place to 39 seconds. Pidcock had also held his own impressively on the climbs in stages 16 and 17 and says he’s back in top form.

While UAE Emirates-XRG will use the penultimate stage to try to wrestle the red jersey away from Vingegaard, Hindley and Pellizzari want to go head-to-head with Pidcock. The 21-year-old Italian won stage 17, but Hindley is the closer of the two to the podium. “I think that it was too short for me today. I was a bit tired after yesterday and I was expecting better,” said Pellizzari in the mixed zone.

Pellizzari lost a bit of time to Matthew Riccitello, his rival for the white jersey in the young rider classification. But in the ideal scenario, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe delivers a big performance on Saturday and arrives in Madrid on Sunday with both a podium spot and the white jersey. “We keep fighting. There is still one mountain stage, and we will see how the legs are there. We are both in the top 5 of the general classification (with teammate Jai Hindley, ed.), but for sure we will try to put one man on the podium."