João Almeida sat out seven weeks. He is back leading UAE in Poland
The Portuguese rider returns at the 83rd Tour de Pologne: seven stages, three summit finishes and a time trial on the final day.
João Almeida had not pinned on a number since 13 June. That changed on Monday, on the opening stage of the Tour de Pologne, and it could hardly have been quieter: 234.2 kilometres from Gdynia to Koszalin, the longest stage of the race, settled in a sprint won by Italy’s Jonathan Milan. Almeida crossed the line in the bunch, on the same time as the winner, 5:04.11.
Quiet was the point. After seven weeks away, the Portuguese rider arrives in Poland leading UAE Team Emirates with a brief to find racing rhythm before the serious end of the calendar. His team kept him out of the Clásica San Sebastián specifically to stage this comeback.
What the race offers him
The 83rd edition finishes on 9 August and is built so nobody can hide: seven stages, three summit finishes and a time trial on the closing day. That suits Almeida rather well. The climbs are hard but short, and a race against the clock at the end is exactly where he takes time back from pure climbers.
Stage one belonged to the sprinters and to the rematch between Milan and Paul Magnier, who have traded wins already this season. The general classification only starts to move with the uphill finishes in the back half of the week.
Why it matters
Almeida is currently the best-placed Portuguese rider in the World Tour, and Poland is the test that will show what condition he takes into the rest of August. The full route, start times and live standings are on the official Tour de Pologne site.
Back home the calendar is busy too. The Volta a Portugal sets off from Lisbon on 5 August and finishes in Porto 1,388 kilometres later, which splits Portuguese cycling across two races at once.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Filip Bossuyt / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
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