Despite getting his Tour de Suisse campaign underway on the wrong foot, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has left no doubt about his form or his intentions in the Swiss Alps. Last year's runner-up stormed to an impressive solo victory on Wednesday's stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse, putting at least a moderate dent into the hefty deficit he faces in the general classification.
"There's still a long way to go, a lot of time to get back, but I'm happy with a stage win," he said. "We're going to enjoy this one."
Almeida, one of the few members of UAE's expected Tour de France lineup not to race at last week's Critérium du Dauphiné, came to Switzerland as his team's unquestioned GC leader and a major favorite for the overall – but things went awry on the very first stage. A big breakaway survived through to the finish, leaving Almeida more than three minutes down on early leader Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) and just over two minutes behind dangerous riders like Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla).
UAE's failure to keep the opening stage under control may have been another sign of dysfunction for the team that showed no shortage of it at the recent Giro d'Italia, but Almeida was not going to let that derail his ambitions.
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