A cut above the rest, yet Almeida admits he "didn't feel great" in the Basque Country: "I didn’t have the best legs"

On the brutally steep slopes of the climb to Izua — which spikes at a staggering 20 percent gradient — Almeida launched a powerful attack. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) had his team leading all day and was the first to make a move on the final climb, but it was ultimately the Portuguese star from UAE who proved strongest. He pulled away from the competition and soloed to an impressive win in Markina-Xemein, despite claiming he wasn’t even feeling that good.

“I actually didn’t feel great today,” Almeida admitted candidly in the flash interview afterward. “I didn’t have the best legs, but maybe nobody did. I gave it everything and ended up winning. I’m really happy,” said the smiling Portuguese rider, who also made sure to thank his team. “They were perfect.”

Despite looking perfectly in control compared to his rivals on Thursday, João Almeida admitted that the previous stage had really taken a toll on him. No one could follow the Portuguese rider on the final climb, but that didn’t mean it was easy. “That was a very tough stage, and it took a lot of effort to bring the breakaway back,” he said. Stage 3 had turned into a war of attrition. “I think everyone was a bit tired after yesterday, but luckily I still had enough left.”

With his stage win, Almeida pulled off a double blow, also taking over the leader’s jersey from Maximilian Schachmann. The German rider from Soudal Quick-Step is now Almeida’s closest challenger, sitting in second place half a minute down. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) is currently third, 38 seconds behind the Portuguese star. But Almeida isn’t talking about overall victory just yet. Instead, he’s taking a moment to enjoy this win. “Tomorrow and the day after will be very, very hard, but for now, we need to enjoy the victory. Then we’ll focus on the final days.”