Portuguese cyclist João Almeida (UAE) put on a show today in the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, finishing second after “pinning” the other favorites and also launching his teammate Adam Yates to another victory.
The British-Emirati Emirati entered the race today in the yellow jersey and strengthened it after covering 148.6 kilometers in the Alps, between Ambre and Carey, and finished the race in 3:54.37 hours.
Joao Almeida, who chose to compete on the final climb, ended up in second place, after all that work, five seconds behind, while Colombian Egan Bernal (INEOS) came in third, 16th.
The Portuguese, who will be part of the team that will “guard” Slovenian Tadej Pogacar in the Tour de France, like Yates, showed how valuable he is as “very sociable” on the high mountain, reducing a group with several people. The climbers broke into a quintet of resistance to allow the Briton to attack in the final two kilometres.
After the response, Bernal and Spaniard Enrique Mas (Movistar) still overtook the Portuguese rider, who is 35 seconds behind his teammate, in second place overall.
Bernal is third in 1.11 minutes, with three stages remaining, including an individual time trial on Sunday, in which the Portuguese will theoretically be superior.
The other two Portuguese in the race regained their overall positions, with Rui Costa (EF Education-Easy Post) rising to 51st and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) rising to 61st.
On Friday, the climb of the high mountains will continue over a distance of 151.4 kilometers between Locarno and Platen, with a special category and another category of the first category being climbed, coinciding with the finish line.
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