Analysts praise Almeida, but Zonneveld has doubts: "If it had been Pogacar, Vingegaard would have responded"

All the cycling podcasts were amazed by Almeida's dominant performance. “The best man won today,” concluded José De Cauwer on Sporza. “We did get a great battle between two champions. We saw a victory by Almeida that gives us a little courage for what is yet to come.”

After all, can Almeida win this Vuelta? “I think so,” says De Cauwer, who still sees more than 20,000 meters of elevation gain to come. “It’s definitely still possible. I’ve seen a very strong and motivated Almeida. That’s great, and he’s winning the race too. (...) I'm not going to say that I had already lost a little bit of courage in this Vuelta with Vingegaard's performance, but I have regained my morale."

In addition to Almeida's victory, it was also notable in stage 13 that UAE Team Emirates-XRG did not send strong climbers into the breakaway for the first time in this Vuelta, opting instead to ride for the stage win. “If what Joxean Matxin (sports director, ed.) says is true, then we won't see many UAE riders in the breakaways anymore, and it will all be for Almeida,” Johan Bruyneel said in The Move.

“They should do that, with six stage wins already. The focus should be on Almeida, he deserves it,” said the Belgian. “It's the first time we've seen him at such a high level in this Vuelta, determined to ride at his own pace. Vingegaard had nothing left to accelerate, which only made Almeida's performance even more impressive.”

“After what I saw today, I don't think Vingegaard has already won this Vuelta. He really can't afford to have a bad moment anywhere, although the same goes for Almeida,” said Bruyneel. Because, as they also noted in the podcast In Het Wiel, it's not that Vingegaard didn't want to. “Vingegaard said before the race that he really wanted to win the stage,” emphasized Roxane Knetemann.

So, second place behind Almeida was not out of luxury. “UAE led the group of favorites for a long time. I had expected that to be Visma. I had also expected Vingegaard to call the shots, but it was Almeida who set a killer pace. The fact that Vingegaard didn't make any moves to attack shows how hard Almeida was riding and how difficult he made it.”

“It was not a very epic episode of the Angliru,” concluded Thijs Zonneveld on In De Waaier. “You had the feeling that Vingegaard could have gone faster, but that's just an optical illusion. It's too early to say that you're giving away the race. I just think that Vingegaard didn't have much left in the tank. He really wanted to win, but those last 500 meters from Almeida were excellent.”

Zonneveld would have found a late overtake by Vingegaard “ugly,” but of course the Dane had every right to do so. However, it didn't happen. “Did he say ‘never mind’? I think Almeida was just in very good shape, and that Vingegaard couldn't go any faster. But optically, it looked like he still had something left. If it had been Pogacar riding in front, he would have found the energy to respond.”