Flashy on the bike, but dull in the flash interview: Almeida keeps his cards close after victory in Swiss mountains
CyclingWednesday, 18 June 2025 at 17:25
As spectacular as it was on the bike, it was just as lackluster in the flash interview. Joao Almeida is clearly a man of action rather than words, as was once again evident after the fourth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour. The Portuguese rider won after a solo break of fifty kilometers.
Almeida dropped everyone on the Splügenpass and maintained his lead all the way to the finish in Italy. "It was a tough effort after some good teamwork, so I’m happy I could finish it off," he said stoically in his flash interview.
With that, he shaved a minute off his deficit to race leader Romain Grégoire, who still holds a 2:07 lead. "There’s still a long way to go. I need to make up a lot of time, but I’m happy with this stage and I want to enjoy that."
Read more below the video!
Almeida top favorite for the Tour of Switzerland? "I disagree"
The interviewer suggested to Almeida that, looking ahead to Thursday’s tough stage, he is now the top favorite for the Tour de Suisse. “I don’t agree, because I still have to make up two minutes, and that’s a tough task,” the stage winner responded.
“But we’re not going to give up. I’m going to try, because you only know if you try,” Almeida added. On Thursday, the peloton finishes in Santa Maria, after a climb of nearly five kilometers at ten percent.
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Latest Comments
- Two old men shouting at pigeons in the park…JonS16-06-2025
- Out of touch old men hankering after their youth through rose tinted spectacles, their arrogance almost outshines their irrelevance. Turn the volume down, this modern stuff just isn't music like we used to sing...johnny20whales16-06-2025
- In talking speed skating, the days when Heiden did that, nobody else did that. And Eddy couldn't do the equivalent of the bike. His 200 on the velodrome was good, but not world competitive for gold. Heiden was in his own world on the ice, moreso than Eddy if we pretend Eric didn't have a very short career on the ice.Veganpotter16-06-2025
- They wouldn't have dropped HIM so easily.... the GOAT. They would have dropped the rest from that era easily thoughVeganpotter16-06-2025
- Merckx was able to win in a break away on a flat (sprinters) stage, what do you mean they did not drop that easily in his time. Vlaeminck won in the mountains and the classics, but now you need to specialise. The days that a Eric Heiden could win the sprint and the 10k and everything in between are long gone and cycljng is no differentJoostmehrtens16-06-2025
- Carsapaz and Del torro were not capable of chasing Yates. They paused and looked at each other because they didn't have it in them. Yates had kept his powder dry waiting for this stage and demolished both of them. They lost Yates won. Your second guessing is utter nonsense., if either felt they could close Yates down they would have , just like they did countless times for other riders. They blew up , Yates excelled.Uphillbilly05-06-2025
- Carapaz is full of it. He is absolutely irrelevant after a rant at del Toro. Isaac had no obligations to do anything for Carapaz. It should remind one of the saying that goes lke this: "If I jump off the bridge, are you going to jump too?" If Caapaz wanted to win the Giro he should have chased Yates with or without Isaac. And if del Toro could follow, then so be it. But it was Carapaz's choice to slow down and stare at Isaac. Isaac was on the radio at times and you can bet he was being told by the Team car to do just what he was doing. Did I like that he didn't set out after Yates himself, NO. But the 21 year old was probably being instructed to do what he did, otherwise you can bet we would have heard from UAE mgmt. that Isaac chose to ignore their orders. But what we did hear was they were happy with his result. Which I think was a terrible betrayal of their young rider, who I think was capable of more than that penultimate stage showed. The Giro finished on a truly sour note as far as I'm concerned, because it was not "raced" The most crucial stage of the whole 21 stage race was simply given away, playing games with the unwritten rules of bicycle racing. "Leaders jerseys responsibility" and all that nonsense. Just RACE! It was disgraceful.
reemmo004-06-2025 - Well this aged like fine milkGlyn31-05-2025
- This is just mean-spirited.agnessk29-05-2025
- Something a bit misleading with this headline...mrbobke23-05-2025