The bizarre story behind the time trial duels between Schachmann and Almeida, and Van Gils's wrong turn
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Follow us on GoogleOn Monday, the opening time trial in the Tour of the Basque Country was a nailbiter. Three riders finished within a second of each other, but Maximilian Schachmann took the win for Soudal-Quick Step by the smallest of margins. The fact that João Almeida finished second for UAE Team Emirates-XRG was not so surprising based on a rather bizarre statistic. And to add another bizarre fact, Maxim Van Gils took a wrong turn in the last stretch.
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First, let's look at the Belgian from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe because what exactly went wrong for Van Gils in that last corner of the time trial? He was steering neatly to the left and had 100 meters to go, but suddenly, he decided to steer to the right and almost crashed into a startled organization member. It was an expensive mistake because Van Gils ended up in 35th place, 48 seconds behind Schachmann. Without that mistake, he might have been in the top 25.
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Schachmann and Almeida incredibly close in their last time trials
Then there are Schachmann and Almeida. What do the German from Quick Step and the Portuguese from UAE have in common? Apart from the fact that they can both cycle incredibly fast, they have now completed four time trials in a row at almost precisely the same speed! Het Nieuwsblad noted that the duo have been keeping pace in time trials since 2021. And we're talking about almost exactly the exact times; the difference each time was in the numbers after the decimal point.
The copying behavior began at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 when Schachmann recorded a time of 58.34 minutes. Almeida recorded exactly the same time, the difference being in the thousandths of a second. Thus, Schachmann finished fifteenth, Almeida sixteenth. Three years later, at the World Time Trial Championships in Zurich, it happened again: the German rode to 23rd place, with a time exactly six-hundredths of a second faster than Almeida.
The Tour of the Algarve happened again on day five at the beginning of this year. This time, the difference was five-hundredths of a second, but again, it favored Schachmann. Fifth place to sixth place this time... And then there was the Basque time trial on Monday, which the man from The Wolfpack won. Schachmann was 0.54 seconds faster than Almeida and 0.76 seconds faster than Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Unbelievable!
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Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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Latest Comments
- I’m a bit confused by the photo finish explanation—if the image shows time rather than distance, how can it prove who crossed first? And why was the result not explained immediately after the race?velodromevirtuoso109-10-2026
- 13,000 captures per second is some serious technology! Still, I can understand why Ciccone felt frustrated when the margin was so tiny. Hopefully the organisers publish the full image so fans can see exactly what happened.patriciaw09-10-2026
- Evenepoel handled this well. No need to turn a razor-thin result into a bigger argument, especially with the governing body confirming the procedure. That jersey and Specialized bike combination should look absolutely brilliant in Lombardy.cadencekingm09-10-2026
- A finish decided by fractions of a second will always create debate, but the UEC’s explanation of the EtherLynx system sounds pretty conclusive. Photo finishes are often misunderstood—the image represents time, not a normal view of the riders’ position. Fair play to Ciccone for accepting it graciously.pedalpowe2909-10-2026
- This feels a bit overdramatic from the media. Until Roglic or his agent confirms it, all these “insiders” are just guessing. Still, seeing him line up with Pidcock would be pretty cool.breakawaybikerd09-10-2026
- I’m still learning the team side of cycling: if a team has 29 contracts already signed, how can it still add Roglič? Do riders leave, or are there limits on how many can be registered?samanthak09-10-2026
- So many conflicting reports — Tudor favourite one week, completely out the next. Surely someone in the camps knows what’s happening? Either way, Roglic deserves a team built around him rather than another uncertain setup.jeremya09-10-2026
- Pinarello-Q5 with Roglič, Pidcock and Ciccone would be a seriously interesting project. Plenty of firepower, although three big personalities sharing one team could get complicated during the Grand Tours.sprocketspiny09-10-2026
- The transfer rumours are becoming a race of their own! Tudor still makes sense, but a clear leader role at Lotto-Intermarché could be exactly what Roglič wants at this stage of his career. Let’s see what comes out after Lombardia.gearguru3309-10-2026
- Big challenge ahead—bonne chance, Grischa!lindae09-10-2026
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