On rest day, Almeida looks at ways to beat Vingegaard: "There’s hope the final week might feel longer for him"

“Today was a quiet day, I gave my legs and mind a rest,” Almeida said in conversation with Marca on the rest day. “It was time to recover for tomorrow,” the Portuguese rider said, referring to Tuesday's tenth stage, which again includes an uphill finish. Then Almeida will begin his attempt to erase Jonas Vingegaard's first blow.

The Dane gained 24 seconds on his Portuguese rival, but the UAE star is not too concerned about that. “He hasn't built up a huge lead. It's 24 seconds, so I don't think it's much. We're still full of enthusiasm. The Vuelta is very long, and there are still many tough stages to go, so there will be plenty of opportunities to gain time. And also to lose time,” Almeida laughs.

The UAE team leader does not want to say which stages offer those opportunities. “There are many. Tomorrow (Tuesday, ed.), there is a long uphill stage; you can't say it won't be decisive. Then we have Angliru, the time trial, with several uphill finishes that will be very tough. Stage 20 is also challenging. There is no shortage of tough days in this Vuelta.”

So, on Sunday, UAE suffered its first blow from Visma | Lease a Bike and Vingegaard. How will the team prevent this from happening again? 'He rode the Tour, and that always leaves you a little tired. There is hope that the last week might feel longer for him, but he is an exemplary rider and is doing very well. We have to acknowledge that. He is now in the lead, and we have to close that gap," says Almeida.

The 27-year-old rider from Caldas de Rainha had earlier stated that he had started racing more aggressively due to Tadej Pogacar's style. When asked, Almeida said that this is still the case. “If I perform well and good opportunities arise, I will no longer stay in the wheel. I will try to attack, so we will keep trying in every way possible,” he warned the competition.

It undoubtedly felt a bit like the elephant in the room, but the Spanish media outlet still asked Almeida about Sunday's events. The Portuguese player's remark about his own team did not go unnoticed by Marca either. “My teammates helped me enormously throughout the day, and I had Jay (Vine, ed.) to help me close the gap. Maybe we weren't 100%, maybe nothing had changed, we'll never know... That's cycling for you," he said, correcting his words from the day before.

So did anyone in the team fail? “I don't want to say that. It's all in the past now. Now it's time to focus on the next steps,” Almeida seems to want to put it behind him. The Portuguese rider is therefore looking ahead to what is yet to come. “To win stages, you have to beat everyone, even Vingegaard, which is more difficult than in a breakaway, for example. But there are still many tough stages ahead, and we're definitely going to try.”