João Almeida, at 25 years old, suffered a fall early in the stage, and this wasn’t the first time during this Vuelta a España. “It wasn’t my best day. I felt very good physically, even had one of my best days on the bike,” recounted the cyclist from Caldas da Rainha in the UAE Team Emirates’ stage report. The fall happened during a climb. “Something was wrong with the road; I lost balance and crashed hard.”
“I hit my leg muscle against the frame or the handlebars. It got really swollen and painful. I got back on the bike and took everything off. Fortunately, the pain subsided as we approached the final climb. I managed to stay among the favorites and salvage my day.”
Almeida continues to be in good shape in the overall classification (11th at 3:09 from the leader Sepp Kuss) and remains optimistic about the upcoming key stages. “It’s not something serious. I hope to overcome this in the next four to five days so I can get back to my normal level.”