Jonas Vingegaard went into the stage declaring his ambition to raise his arms on the legendary Alto de l’Angliru at the Vuelta a España. Instead, it was João Almeida who spoiled the Dane’s plans. Vingegaard didn’t lose any time in the overall standings and was never in real trouble, but he still sounded far from satisfied afterwards.
“I’m left with mixed feelings,” he admitted in a flash interview. “I really wanted to win today. The team did everything to set me up, but to be fair, João deserved it. He was unbelievably strong. I gave everything I had, but I’m a little disappointed.”
Vingegaard already sensed the outcome earlier, on the Alto del Cordal, the penultimate climb. “That’s where I saw that he and his team were fully committed to chasing the stage. They took control, and they did it well. My own team rode great, too—they kept things under control all day. It’s a shame I couldn’t finish it off for them. And for my family.”
Even so, Vingegaard has reason to stay optimistic. In the overall standings, he still leads Almeida by 46 seconds. “From a GC perspective it was a good day. I just need to focus more on João than on the others, and I should be happy about that. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that I wanted the win. Everyone dreams of celebrating on a climb like this,” the Dane said.
There is still a crazy week of racing left. You can watch it on FloBikes.com and as always, your pals at Canadian Cycling Magazine have you covered.
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