Jonas Vingegaard certainly didn’t let Almeida win on the Angliru: "I do feel a bit guilty"

Anyone who watched the thirteenth stage of the Vuelta saw a race with two faces. In the first few hours, it was Visma | Lease a Bike that set the pace, putting Vingegaard's stated ambition to win into practice. On the penultimate climb, however, UAE Emirates-XRG took over, and we never saw a Visma rider in the lead again, not even Vingegaard.

His teammates launched Almeida, but Vingegaard seemed to keep up with ease. Almost everyone expected a late attack from the GC leader, but despite Almeida's grimacing face, the Portuguese rider stayed ahead of his rival until the finish. Vingegaard had no more power left in the tank. Was he perhaps satisfied with second place?

The answer to that question came from Vingegaard himself: “I have mixed feelings, to be honest. I really wanted to win today, and we did everything we could to achieve that. However, João deserved the victory because he was super strong today. I did what I could, and I'm disappointed that I couldn't win.”

Vingegaard said he was not surprised by Almeida. "I already knew on the penultimate climb that he wanted to go for the win, with his team taking the lead. My team also did very well, controlling the whole day, and I feel a bit guilty towards them that I couldn't finish it off.“

Because, as he said, sounding guilty and with a slightly smiling face: ”I would have liked to win for my teammates and my family. The Angliru is a special climb; everyone wants to win there. That I am still the leader in the GC? That's true, I now have to focus more on João and a little less on the rest. I can be happy with that."