{"id":464732,"date":"2026-02-07T16:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T16:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/464732\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T16:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T16:28:08","slug":"if-everyone-had-fully-committed-maybe-we-could-have-caught-him-joao-almeida-rues-lack-of-help-from-tiberi-as-evenepoel-solos-to-gc-control-at-valenciana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/464732\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIf everyone had fully committed, maybe we could have caught him\u201d \u2013 Jo\u00e3o Almeida rues lack of help from Tiberi as Evenepoel solos to GC control at Valenciana"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nA moment that slipped away<\/p>\n

Evenepoel\u2019s attack came with just under 13 kilometres remaining, immediately splitting the group of favourites and forcing those behind into damage control. Almeida was among the strongest of the chasers and would go on to finish second on the stage, but the gap to the front stabilised rather than shrank.<\/p>\n

According to Almeida, the issue was not belief but cooperation. \u201cWhen you are in a small group you always still have some hope,\u201d he said. \u201cBut against the world champion in the time trial it was always going to be complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almeida then explained why that hope never turned into a fully organised pursuit, singling out Antonio Tiberi<\/a> for riding conservatively in the decisive phase. \u201cAntonio was also looking to save his legs,\u201d Almeida said. \u201cThat\u2019s cycling.\u201dStrength acknowledged, margins exposed<\/p>\n

Despite the frustration, Almeida was careful to acknowledge Evenepoel\u2019s performance and his own effort on a stage that was ridden at relentless intensity from the opening climbs. \u201cIt was a fast day, very hard from the start,\u201d he said. \u201cI did my best, but Remco was just stronger today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Portuguese rider also noted that the explosive nature of the decisive climb did not play perfectly to his strengths. \u201cIf it had been a bit longer, I think it would have suited me better,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it is what it is. I think I rode pretty well and we did a good job as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

GC consequences take shape<\/p>\n

While Almeida limited his losses better than most, the lack of cohesion behind Evenepoel allowed the race leader to ride all the way through the finish, maximising his advantage and reshaping the general classification in one move.<\/p>\n

Stage 4 marked the moment the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana<\/a> finally broke open. For Almeida, the result left a sense of what might have been, not because the winner was unbeatable, but because the chance to respond never fully materialised. \u201cThat\u2019s cycling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A moment that slipped away Evenepoel\u2019s attack came with just under 13 kilometres remaining, immediately splitting the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[173902,64,63,784,89774,8396,85,19805,217961],"class_list":{"0":"post-464732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-antonio-tiberi","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-joao-almeida","13":"tag-remco-evenepoel","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uae-team-emirates-xrg","16":"tag-volta-a-comunitat-valenciana"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464732","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=464732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}