João Almeida can’t resist a dig after time loss: "Maybe missed my teammates a bit today"

It was Matteo Jorgenson who launched his leader on the final climb. Vingegaard took off and nicely pulled away, with Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) the only one who could immediately keep up. The Italian would eventually drop back. Thus, Vingegaard had flown away.

Behind him, it was clear that Almeida was the strongest of the chasers. Together with Tom Pidcock, the Portuguese rider began the chase, with the pair quickly leaving Ciccone behind. The gap to Vingegaard varied between 10 and 20 seconds, but in the end, Almeida and Pidcock had to concede 24 seconds to the Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike.

"They had a bit of a surprise effect," Almeida said afterwards on Eurosport, looking back on the duo attack by Jorgenson and Vingegaard. "We didn't expect it," he said honestly. "I was well-positioned, but it was really fast. Ultimately, I couldn't close the gap. It is what it is."

What was particularly striking was the lack of help from the UAE camp. Almeida was soon on his own, and Pidcock was also unable to make much of an impact in the chase. “I could see that they were at their limit, so they couldn't really help.”

Could the Portuguese rider have used another man? “I think I missed my teammates a bit today. No one was really there anymore. So yeah... It is what it is,” Almeida sounded disappointed. From the UAE camp, we saw Ayuso drop out early on the final climb.

And that, while with a little help, there might have been more in it for Almeida, because does the Portuguese think he could have kept up with Vingegaard's acceleration if he had been on his wheel? “Yes, because it wasn't that steep. I think I could have kept up. We'll never know, right?” Almeida concluded with a slight smile.