João Almeida shines in the race against the clock, regains yellow and is one day away from becoming the first Portuguese to win a Volta ao L Luxembourg – Observador

João Almeida was only the third Portuguese to win a leg of the Tour of Luxembourg. First it was Joaquim Agostinho in 1969, in a time trial considered the fourth stage in the same year, when he debuted from eighth position on the Tour between two tirade victories. Then there was Acaciu da Silva in 1983 (he later won the prologue in 1990) when they won the Tour de Kaistenberg and Limousin. Now the runner A dos Franco has attached his name to limited list for participation in competitions, from the first stage it was promised to write more history.

Although it was a victory sprint In Luxembourg, there was the first gap between those looking to finish ahead of the competition, as highlighted in the next two stages: Mark Hirski, with a successful escape in the last two kilometers of the third and final pass at the finish line. in Esch-sur-sur, they managed to get yellow in the second heat, and everything remained the same in the third, which ended with the triumph of Sasha Modolo in Mamera. From the Portuguese side, even losing the lead, things were going well: between intermediate bonuses and at the finish he managed to lose to Helvetico only four seconds, and the next day he kept the same (small) distance.

It’s time to race against the clock, 25.4 km in Dudeland in the fourth and penultimate stage of the race. Under normal conditions, having walked one day in yellow and two days in blue (scoring T-shirt), João Almeida appeared with some favoritism to regain leadership because of the difference he had in this context in relation to Mark Hirski. Even so, there were just over half an hour left to reach the goal with or without stage triumph.

Since many Portuguese supported Quick-Step runner Desenink, or was not in Luxembourg, Almeida started with a stage where teammate Mattia Cattaneo had excellent intermediate points (19th position, 52 seconds from A-dos. Franco), and this attention was focused on Bauke Mollema, The Dutchman who fell very badly. In the first intermediate benchmark, with the Italian leading with 17.26, João Almeida posted the second fastest time, eight seconds behind his transalpine teammate and 19 seconds behind Hirshi.

The scores played in favor of the Portuguese and Deseninck herself, who saw the real scenario of having two runners between three and five, even because Thibault Pino, who had a surprisingly good track record, had some problems in the second part of the race. The route, which was evident in the heated conversation that he had with the team’s car. David de la Cruz, the fifth-placed Spaniard overall, expected to climb the standings with a good time trial, but the focus was on Almeida and Hirshi’s fight against the Portuguese. to take over and bring back the yellow jersey finishing second in this fourth stage, just two seconds behind teammate Mattia Cattaneo.

The Decieninkov duo managed to create a comfortable gap for other rivals: Matthias Skjelmos Jensen finished third, 26 seconds behind Cattaneo. David de la Cruz finished fourth with 35 seconds, Hirshi managed to reach sixth place with 49 seconds, and Vincenzo Nibali finished tenth with 57 seconds, leaving the Pinot-Goudou duo Groupama from the top ten. Looking at the overall standings, João Almeida regained his yellow position. 43 seconds ahead of the Swiss when there is a stage until the end of the competition, on the section between Mersch and the city of Luxembourg (183.7 km). Cattaneo climbed to third place in 50 seconds, 52 seconds ahead of David de la Cruz.