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João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has said he wanted to ride for himself on the Giro d’Italia yesterday but in the end had to respect the “orders” from his team with wait for Remco Evenepoel.
When asked if he was disappointed, Almeida said it was best if he stayed silent and did not answer the question by expressing what he really thought.
Both riders were in the race leader’s group yesterday
before Evenepoel was dropped in the finale. He was left isolated off the back
as Almeida did not wait up for him for a long time.
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Evenepoel was seen taking his radio earpiece out of his
ear and throwing it away before Almeida came back to help him limit his losses.
Belgian media reported that Almeida, who led the Giro for
two weeks last year and was 4th overall, and Grand Tour debutant Evenepoel did
not speak to each other after the stage.
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Evenepoel has now said he shouted out when he was getting dropped but Almeida had not heard him. He added the team car’s TV coverage was interrupted during the race and so the team did not see him being dropped. That meant there was a delay in telling Almeida to wait up for him, which he did eventually. But Evenepoel has said it was all down to bad luck.
However, Almeida has been clear with the media in his native Portugal in saying he wanted to ride for himself – even though his GC race is over because he had lost so much time even before yesterday's stage. He said he was in a position to race for himself yesterday but had to follow orders and wait.
“I felt good and with good feelings,” he told A Bola of his ride yesterday. “I had the chance to race for myself with the best, but I had to follow the orders that came from the support car to wait for Remco.
“Do I feel disappointed? I'd rather be silent than say what I think. Every day I am learning and today I learned a lot, in a fantastic stage where I could go far. Cycling is a collective sport and the sporting directors are the ones who are in charge.”
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