INTERVIEW: JOÃO ALMEIDA
JOÃO AL ME ID A, A FIRST-YEAR PROFESSIONAL RIDING FOR DEC E UN IN CK-QUICKSTEP, HELD THE MAG LIAR OS A FOR 15 DAYS AT THE GIRO D’ ITALIA. HE TELLS PRO CYCLING ABOUT HIS STUNNING DE BUT SEASON
The young Portugese star shocked the world by coming fourth in the Giro. We catch up with him
The 2020 season was a second consecutive year of breakthrough performances by young riders, from Tadej Pogacar at the Tour, through Remco Evenepoel in every stage race he entered, to Marc Hirschi at Flèche Wallonne. And in his first year as a professional cyclist, João Almeida led the Giro d’Italia for 15 days, the longest any Portuguese rider has spent in a grand tour leader’s jersey. In a year disrupted by a global pandemic, the 22-year-old finished fourth at his first grand tour. He never quite looked like winning it, but for a long, long time, he also looked nothing like losing it.
It might have looked like a perfectly executed plan by his Deceuninck-Quick Step team, only Almeida wasn’t supposed to be leading his team at the Giro. The even more precocious Evenepoel was to be the Belgian team’s GC option, until he crashed and broke his pelvis at Il Lombardia. Thrust into the limelight, Almeida rode out of his skin from day one and set the tone for a Giro that was all about youth. Second in the opening day’s time trial on a very windy day in Palermo, he climbed into the maglia rosa on stage 3 at Etna and didn’t relinquish the lead until over a fortnight later, on the toughest day of his career over the Stelvio.
Looking back at his breakthrough moment, three months on, Almeida says the race was a dream come true. “If I went back, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he tells Procycling. “It was special to be in the pink jersey, I grew up a lot mentally in this Giro, and I think it was really positive for the future.”
He adds: “I learned that a grand tour is frigging hard. It’s all about your mind.”
It suited the other GC riders quite well for a motivated Almeida to try to keep the pink jersey for as long as possible. It put the responsibility on Quick Step to defend his lead, so the other teams could save themselves for the final few days. At the same time, he’s gained valuable experience, and next time he may give the race lead up even less willingly.
“I was very proud of having the jersey for that long, and the team did an amazing job every day,” Almedida says. “I was a bit sad to lose it. Fifteen days in it and then you just lose it, so there were a few tears in my eyes, but in the end it was a great feeling to have it for that long.”
Almeida’s gains came from his time trialling, with his second place on the opening stage followed by sixth on the next individual test on stage 14, the fastest of the GC contenders. Most eyes were looking elsewhere, but he was also fourth on stage 21 in Milan, the fastest GC rider again. His time trialling strength came in handy in a race with 65km against the clock. “I’ve always been good in a time trial, but last year I worked more and more on it because everyone knows it’s important. It looks like an advantage for me.”
Almeida was no placeholder. He wasn’t one of those riders who just passes through a grand tour leader’s jersey until the rightful winner comes along. On stage 15 to Piancavallo, under intense pressure from Sunweb, he held firm, as more experienced riders like Vincenzo Nibali and Jakob Fuglsang lost more than a minute to eventual winner Tao Geoghegan Hart. The next day, he gained two seconds on his GC rivals in a very fast finish in San Daniele del Friuli; a final show of defiance.
Speaking after that stage, Almeida said, “Sometimes the best defence is attacking and that’s what I did today. I tried. Why not? When it’s steep like this, everyone’s spent energy.”
The dream ended on stage 18 to Laghi di Cancano, when Almeida
lost over five minutes to Geoghegan Hart and Jai Hindley. It was not a collapse however, more a reflection of just how well Geoeghegan Hart, Hindley, and Rohan Dennis rode that day. Three days later, he bounced back in that final time trial, meaning he could leave the race with his head held high, and less than 90 seconds from the podium
Almeida knows what he has to do to improve: climb better. “I think I did a good grand tour. It was very solid, so it gave me hope for the future,” he says. “Also, it gives motivation to work even more. I think I need to become a little bit stronger, so in the mountains it’s not that hard. You can have a good time trial, but if you lose time in the mountains it has a lot of effect on whether you can win. You need to be the best everywhere.”
Almeida looked the part in the maglia rosa. He is well placed to follow in the footsteps of his two Portuguese compatriots who have previously worn a leader’s jersey in a grand tour, Joaquim Agostinho and Acácio Da Silva.
FAST STARTER
The Giro performance did not come from nowhere. While in the service of Evenepoel, he finished ninth on GC at the Volta ao Algarve and third at the Vuelta a Burgos last year, before going on to finish seventh at the Tour de l’Ain and third at Coppi e Bartali. That’s a striking set of GC results for a first-year pro, and he also had a good one-day outing when he came second at the
Giro dell’Emilia. While his Belgian team-mate Evenepoel may have been making all the headlines with his victories, Almeida was slowly building in his first season.
The Algarve result was particularly noteworthy, as it took place in his home country. “Algarve is the only big race I do in Portugal so it’s pretty special,” he says. “It’s the only one that has a good level, so it was good to do well there last year. It was the first hard stage race I did, and I didn’t know how I’d react to that. I was still with the guys on the hardest climbs. I even did a lot of good work for Remco. It was really positive, and then to get a good result as well, I was surprised.”
Almeida spent two years at Hagens Berman Axeon, the development team run by Axel Merckx, which produced Giro winner Geoghegan Hart and Neilson Powless among others. With Merckx, he
won Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23 and came second at the Baby Giro.
“I learned a lot at Axeon,” he says. “It was key to where I am today, and we did a lot of good races. It was a good calendar, and then we won a lot, too. An amazing team, and I wouldn’t change anything if I went back. The level of support is good, there’s no pressure and you’re allowed to develop. There’s a good level of competition between the riders though. I’m still friends with everyone from that team.”
Merckx admits that when Almeida joined, he didn’t know what to expect: “When he came to the team we honestly didn’t know what kind of rider he was,” the Belgian tells Procycling. “We threw him in all kinds of races, and I think that was very beneficial for him. Who knows where he’ll finish? He’s a great climber; he’s a great time triallist.”
QUIET ACHIEVER
Almeida is a man of few words. On his breakout 2020, he is succinct. “It was really nice. I could support the team whenever I was needed, did a good job, and then when I got my chances I could do really good results and I think I had a really good season. I think it will be hard to beat.”
“Reserved is the right word,” Merckx says. “It takes a while for him to open up. He’ll say things jokily, but he’s calm. He’s not a big talker. He doesn’t like to be talked to too much in the race also; he likes his own bubble. He knows what he’s doing and he’s focused on it.”
Almeida’s route into cycling was reasonably straightforward. He was a talented swimmer and footballer, before progressing on to mountain bikes and then road racing. “I started on the mountain bike. It went pretty well, so then I tried the road, and I loved it. Like a normal kid, I started winning races and here I am now. When I was a junior, I knew I was going to be good.”
He does, however, admit to having doubts about his abilities, but they do not come through when he’s on the bike. “As a rider, we always have doubts about ourselves, our ability, and being
able to prove it,” he says. “The good results in the past give me confidence, but the past doesn’t give us guarantees. I know what I’m capable of, but I think the doubts will always be there. We have to fight them.”
This isn’t the man that came across when he was in pink for 15 days, nor is it a man that Merckx recognises: “He amazes me how he can handle and deal with pressure and expectations. He doesn’t seem like anything affects him, pressure-wise, and he’s just relaxed and does his thing.”
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
When a team like DeceuninckQuick Step came calling, it was a no-brainer for Almeida to sign, despite the team’s lack of previous grand tour-winning pedigree. “Quick Step is a good team,” he says. “Everyone helps each other.
It’s perfect, great people, great mentality as well. We push each other to be better and better, and we all have a chance in the races. It was a great year for everyone, apart from the bad luck we had with the crashes, and we can be proud of that. We learn from each other, Remco is a huge talent and a great guy, and it’s an honour to be part of that and work for him. We can be a really good duo maybe.”
Evenepoel and Almeida are just two of the new generation of cyclists who broke through in 2020, and it will be interesting to see whether they, Pogacar and Hirschi can maintain their momentum. When asked if he feels like he is part of this group, Almeida replies, “It gives me motivation and a lot of responsibility to be as good as them, and we have to work hard for that. People become professional younger. For me, since I was 18, 19 I have been working really hard and focusing 100 per cent on cycling, and I think in the past it was not like this, people would take it easy.
“Now we never lose time anywhere. Everyone is different and we can’t be at the top forever. We have seen many riders not be at the top their whole career, but we don’t know.”
Merckx, however, is certain that Almeida is destined for greatness. He says: “João has experience of racing, he knows how to position himself in the race. He’s smart and he can ride a bike. He has proved this year that he’s one of the great hopes for the future.”
Now, there’s just the small matter of improving on a fantastic first year. Almeida isn’t worried though: “I just want to win races and be happy doing what I do. Cycling is what I like to do in my life. If it stays as my passion I’ll keep going.”