Joao Almeida showed he is in “the form of his life” with a spectacular Stage 13 win at La Vuelta and sent a message to race favourite Jonas Vingegaard that he will have his “hands full” in his bid to claim another Grand Tour crown. Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) produced a stunning maiden stage win at La Vuelta on Friday by leading from the front the whole way up the famous Alto de L’Angliru climb to gain time on red jersey holder Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
It also signalled that going into the final week of the race, the Portuguese rider intends to have his say and make things as difficult as possible for his decorated rival, two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard, who sits 46 seconds clear ahead of Almeida going into Stage 14 on Saturday.
Speaking on The Breakaway on TNT Sports ahead of the race, Matt Stephens and Adam Blythe admitted they were hugely impressed – and a little surprised – by the phenomenal efforts of Almeida a day earlier.
“It’s an emphatic statement of confidence, the fact that he rode the entire climb on his own, didn’t ask for any assistance, set a pace that was so relentless it blew the race apart, and Jonas Vingegaard couldn’t come round in the final,” Stephens said.
“It states quite clearly that this lad is in the form of his life and that now he is far more of a threat than we ever anticipated.
‘La Vuelta is alive!’ – Almeida pips Vingegaard to thrilling Stage 13 win
Video credit: TNT Sports
“Based on Jonas’ interview at the end, which was honest and quite candid, his body language just said: ‘this is a fight’.
“I think we all expected in the final week for Jonas to have a gap of one-and-a-half to two minutes, it’s a very small gap now. That was a heck of a ride, a ride of real confidence.
“A lot of racing still to go, but this is the most threatening we’ve ever seen Joao Almeida in relation to trying to win a Grand Tour, without a shadow of a doubt.”
Vingegaard came into the final Grand Tour of the 2025 season as the heavy favourite, with his major rival Tadej Pogacar absent from the peloton.
That pair has repeatedly proven to be on another level from the chasing pack in the GC battle of Grand Tours in recent years.
But the Dane, who is chasing his first La Vuelta crown this year after finishing as runner-up to Pogacar at the Tour de France, has faced a level of resistance that caught Blythe off guard.
“From Jonas’ performances in the past, we have expected that [he would dominate]. I don’t think we expected Joao Almeida to be this good, that’s the main thing, and he’s going to bring it to him for the rest of this race,” said Blythe.
‘I still don’t believe it – Almeida delight after triumphing on ‘hardest climb in the world’
Video credit: TNT Sports
“But with Jonas, he’s proven, he’s got the results he’s got because he knows he can do that, we know he can do that, he’s backed it up with wins and performances and he’s got an amazing team around him.
“With Almeida, he’s an extremely good rider but we’ve not seen him in this position before, where he’s being this good.
“It might be a little bit of a shock for Jonas and it’s definitely a shock for me – I didn’t expect Joao to be as good as he was yesterday. Jonas and Visma have definitely got their hands full.”
Watch and stream La Vuelta on TNT Sports and discovery+