Almeida stays in the fight at the Giro D’Italia

Joao Almeida continued his strong run at the Giro, fighting his way to 8th place on Stage 16 from Salo to Aprica (202km).

Almeida became distanced on the last climb of the day inside -8km to go, but paced his efforts well to limit his losses to the Maglia Rosa group of race leader Richard Carapaz (Ineos-Grenadiers).

The day saw many riders suffer on a parlours which featured over 5200 metres of climbing. Up front the stage was won by Jan Hirt (Wanty-Intermarche) as Almeida fought to defend his podium spot which he continues to hold at just 41’’ behind with five stages remaining.

Almeida: “It was a really hard day out there. To be honest I was surprised with my myself, since the start it was full gas the whole day and I didn’t really have any chance to pause and breath a little bit.I’m really happy with my performance and with the result and I’m ready to keep fighting to the end. We are still up there within a minute of the lead so I’m really happy where I am and looking forward to the next days.”

The race continues tomorrow on Stage 17 with another mountainous day from Ponte de Legno to Lavarone (168km).

 
Stage 17 results

1.Jan Hirt (Wanty-Intermarche) 5:40:45
2.Thymen Arensman (DSM) +7’’
3.Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +1’24’’
8.Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +1’38’’

 
General Classification after stage 17

1.Richard Carapaz (Ineos-Grenadiers) 68:49:06
2.Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +3’’
3. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +44’’