{"id":135917,"date":"2025-09-11T19:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/135917\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T19:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:15:17","slug":"joao-almeida-a-pity-the-time-trial-was-shortened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/135917\/","title":{"rendered":"Jo\u00e3o Almeida: \u2018A pity the time trial was shortened\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jo\u00e3o Almeida edged closer to overall leader Jonas Vingegaard in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a on Thursday, clawing back 10 seconds during the shortened individual time trial in Valladolid. Originally set to be 27.2 km, the stage was cut to 12.2 km, leaving Almeida 40 seconds off the red jersey with just a handful of stages remaining.<\/p>\n<p>The time trial was shortened due to security risks, with organizers responding to warnings of potential large-scale protests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not what anyone wanted, but the situation leaves us no choice,\u201d race director Javier Guill\u00e9n <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/filippo-ganna-wins-protest-shortened-vuelta-time-trial\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a>. \u201cThe priority is always the safety of the riders and the fans. We must adapt to the reality on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local officials confirmed they had alerted organizers about the threat. \u201cWe have indications that protests will take place, and they go beyond just waving flags,\u201d Jacinto Canales from the Valladolid municipality said. \u201cThere are radical groups in the area, and we cannot ignore the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did my best,\u201d Almeida said to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurosport.fr\/cyclisme\/tour-d-espagne\/2025\/la-vuelta-18e-etape-joao-almeida-dommage-que-le-chrono-nait-pas-fait-27-km-mais-je-suis-toujours-dans-la-course_vid60027865\/video.shtml\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eurosport<\/a>. \u201cThis type of effort doesn\u2019t suit me very well. It was a pity that the time trial was not 27 km, but it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked how he handled the sudden change, the UAE Team Emirates rider said, \u201cWe will never know what would have happened otherwise\u2026 but we can still be quite satisfied with the outcome. I felt pretty strong. As a cyclist, you are used to adapting to any scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Almeida said his approach won\u2019t change heading into the closing stages. \u201cIt\u2019s still the same as the first day. We do our best every day\u2026 We have to be focused and keep doing our best. That\u2019s the only thing we can control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Friday\u2019s stage is a lumpy one. Although there\u2019s no categorized climbs, it ain\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.procyclingstats.com\/race\/vuelta-a-espana\/2025\/stage-19\/info\/profiles\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">easy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Stage 19 goes from Rueda to Guijuelo for a total of 161.9 km. Although you think it might be a day for the sprinters, it could be one for a break\u2013or even the GC. Saturday is also a tough stage before the final stage into Madrid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jo\u00e3o Almeida edged closer to overall leader Jonas Vingegaard in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a on Thursday, clawing back&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[59440,64,63,784,89774,6495,85],"class_list":["post-135917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2025-vuelta-a-espana","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-joao-almeida","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}