The offensive Portuguese added a few more seconds to his general classification buffer.

It’s one of the most beautiful sights in cycling: the maglia rosa honouring the prestigious tunic by going on the attack and showing to the whole world he is ready to fight until the last ounce of energy to hold onto his iconic jersey. Despite his young age and lack of Grand Tour experience, João Almeida demonstrated that he compensates this with endless exuberance and ambition, two key factors that have made him the revelation of the 104th Giro d’Italia.

For the umpteenth time since the start of the race, the 22-year-old Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider displayed his eye-catching natural aggression, capitalising on his teammates’ excellent work, who on Tuesday protected him throughout the day and made sure of delivering him in a perfect position on the punchy finish to San Daniele del Friuli, which last year was used in the Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Shortly after passing under the flamme rouge banner, the Portuguese came off the wheel of James Knox, exploded away from the rest of the riders and continued full gas until the line. This show of intent gave the overall leader a boost of confidence and brought him a gain of two seconds over his nearest rival on the general classification ahead of the Madonna di Campiglio summit finish.

“It wasn’t the plan to attack, but sometimes the best way to defend yourself is by going on the offensive and today was one of these days. The feeling was good, so I just went, especially as the explosive finale was to my liking. I know I took only two seconds, which don’t change much, but it was an important move for my morale”, said a smiling João, who once again praised his teammates for their admirable job.

“They were great today! All the time around me, then setting a tempo that prevented attacks on the final climb and doing a perfect job in the last kilometers. I know that another difficulty awaits on Wednesday, but I am ready to continue fighting and hopefully I will have the same good legs”, said Almeida, who became the second rider in the history of Deceuninck – Quick-Step to lead a Grand Tour for 14 days, after Julian Alaphilippe at the 2019 Tour de France.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Jan Tratnik
Bahrain - McLaren
6:04:36
2 Ben O'Connor
NTT Pro Cycling
0:07
3 Enrico Battaglin
Bahrain - McLaren
1:14
4 Kamil Małecki
CCC Team
1:14
5 Ben Swift
INEOS Grenadiers
1:14
6 Andrea Vendrame
AG2R La Mondiale
1:21
7 Geoffrey Bouchard
AG2R La Mondiale
1:21
8 Matteo Fabbro
BORA - hansgrohe
1:25
9 Manuele Boaro
Astana Pro Team
1:33
10 Alessandro Tonelli
Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè
1:37
28 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
12:54
39 Fausto Masnada
Deceuninck - Quick Step
13:06
41 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
13:06
52 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
13:44
58 Pieter Serry
Deceuninck - Quick Step
13:54
101 Iljo Keisse
Deceuninck - Quick Step
21:41
105 Davide Ballerini
Deceuninck - Quick Step
21:41
134 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
Deceuninck - Quick Step
26:15
1 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
65:45:08
2 Wilco Kelderman
Team Sunweb
0:17
3 Jai Hindley
Team Sunweb
2:58
4 Tao Geoghegan Hart
INEOS Grenadiers
2:59
5 Pello Bilbao López de Armentia
Bahrain - McLaren
3:12
6 Rafał Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
3:20
7 Vincenzo Nibali
Trek - Segafredo
3:31
8 Domenico Pozzovivo
NTT Pro Cycling
3:52
9 Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
4:11
10 Fausto Masnada
Deceuninck - Quick Step
4:24
14 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
9:07
26 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
46:16
32 Pieter Serry
Deceuninck - Quick Step
57:24
74 Davide Ballerini
Deceuninck - Quick Step
2:12:37
132 Iljo Keisse
Deceuninck - Quick Step
3:43:43
133 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
Deceuninck - Quick Step
3:48:36
1 Arnaud Démare
Groupama - FDJ
221 pt
2 Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
184 pt
3 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
90 pt
4 Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
77 pt
5 Filippo Ganna
INEOS Grenadiers
66 pt
6 Andrea Vendrame
AG2R La Mondiale
66 pt
7 Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
56 pt
8 Simon Pellaud
Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec
50 pt
9 Wilco Kelderman
Team Sunweb
40 pt
10 Davide Ballerini
Deceuninck - Quick Step
40 pt
12 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
Deceuninck - Quick Step
39 pt
16 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
36 pt
72 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
5 pt
91 Fausto Masnada
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1 pt
1 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
65:45:08
2 Jai Hindley
Team Sunweb
2:58
3 Tao Geoghegan Hart
INEOS Grenadiers
2:59
4 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
4:31
5 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
9:07
6 Sergio Samitier Samitier
Movistar Team
10:48
7 Matteo Fabbro
BORA - hansgrohe
20:27
8 Aurélien Paret-Peintre
AG2R La Mondiale
27:06
9 Sam Oomen
Team Sunweb
32:19
10 Attila Valter
CCC Team
36:27
11 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
46:16
42 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
Deceuninck - Quick Step
3:48:36
1 Giovanni Visconti
Vini Zabù - KTM
148 pt
2 Ruben Guerreiro
EF Pro Cycling
118 pt
3 Filippo Ganna
INEOS Grenadiers
48 pt
4 Tao Geoghegan Hart
INEOS Grenadiers
45 pt
5 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolás
INEOS Grenadiers
45 pt
6 Jonathan Klever Caicedo Cepeda
EF Pro Cycling
40 pt
7 Simon Pellaud
Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec
39 pt
8 Wilco Kelderman
Team Sunweb
34 pt
9 Matthew Holmes
Lotto Soudal
32 pt
10 Rohan Dennis
INEOS Grenadiers
28 pt
29 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
9 pt
45 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
4 pt
62 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1 pt
64 Davide Ballerini
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1 pt
1 INEOS Grenadiers 197:05:24
2 Deceuninck - Quick Step 22:36
3 BORA - hansgrohe 23:37
4 Team Sunweb 28:03
5 Bahrain - McLaren 34:58
6 Movistar Team 1:00:35
7 AG2R La Mondiale 1:17:43
8 CCC Team 1:18:06
9 Astana Pro Team 1:22:40
10 Trek - Segafredo 1:25:10

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