The 22-year-old netted Portugal’s best ever result at the Corsa Rosa after an amazing three weeks.

João Almeida ended the Giro d’Italia on a high note, taking fourth on the flat 15.7km-long individual time trial in Milan and moving up one place in the general classification, a result which no one would have imagined when the race started in Palermo three weeks ago. A World Tour rookie which was originally supposed to race the Vuelta a España, Almeida was drafted into Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s team for the Giro d’Italia after an amazing second part of the season – garlanded with podium finishes at the Vuelta a Burgos, Giro dell’Emilia and Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali – and made the most of this opportunity.

His stunning run began with an unexpected runner-up place on the opening stage and took on a completely new dimension when Almeida donned the iconic maglia rosa atop Mount Etna. From then on, he kept on hitting new heights while breathing panache and turning heads with his aggressive style of racing. To top it off, Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s Grand Tour debutant – just the third Portuguese in history to lead the race – wore the pink jersey for 15 consecutive days, an all-time record for an U23 rider in the entire history of the Giro d’Italia.

His race was already immense coming into the final day, but João was motivated for one more strong showing and he delivered it in Milan, confirming he was one of the Giro’s stars. Fifth overall at the start of the time trial, Almeida produced a flying ride, concluding the day just outside the podium, further underlining his unbelievable consistency, which saw him place inside the top 30 on all 21 stages of the race. This tremendous performance helped him overcome a deficit of 23 seconds and lifted the 22-year-old to fourth overall – Portugal’s best ever result at the Giro d’Italia.

“I can’t put into words how happy I am, this is incredible, something I would have never dreamed of. My goal three weeks ago was a top 10 finish, so the be fourth on the GC of this beautiful race is simply mind-blowing! This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my Deceuninck – Quick-Step teammates and staff, who have shown at all times the amazing Wolfpack spirit and to whom I am very grateful”, an over-the-moon João said in Milan.

“I discovered a lot of things about me here, I pushed myself mentally and gave everything every single time. I leave this hard race with many beautiful memories, the best of these being the day when I seized the maglia rosa on the Etna. I am still young and will see what the future holds, but what I can tell you now is that one day I hope to wear this iconic jersey again.”

Almeida was one of the three Deceuninck – Quick-Step riders to finish the race in the top 15 overall. Newcomer Fausto Masnada was ninth – his best result in three participations – while James Knox took 14th, their results helping our squad cement its position at the top of the World Team Ranking.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Filippo Ganna
INEOS Grenadiers
17:16
2 Victor Campenaerts
NTT Pro Cycling
0:32
3 Rohan Dennis
INEOS Grenadiers
0:32
4 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
0:41
5 Miles Scotson
Groupama - FDJ
0:41
6 Josef Černý
CCC Team
0:44
7 Chad Haga
Team Sunweb
0:44
8 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
0:46
9 Kamil Gradek
CCC Team
0:47
10 Jan Tratnik
Bahrain - McLaren
0:47
22 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1:14
32 Davide Ballerini
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1:30
33 Fausto Masnada
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1:31
47 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1:50
48 Pieter Serry
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1:52
49 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1:53
132 Iljo Keisse
Deceuninck - Quick Step
3:43
1 Tao Geoghegan Hart
INEOS Grenadiers
85:40:21
2 Jai Hindley
Team Sunweb
0:39
3 Wilco Kelderman
Team Sunweb
1:29
4 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
2:57
5 Pello Bilbao López de Armentia
Bahrain - McLaren
3:09
6 Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
7:02
7 Vincenzo Nibali
Trek - Segafredo
8:15
8 Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
8:42
9 Fausto Masnada
Deceuninck - Quick Step
9:57
10 Hermann Pernsteiner
Bahrain - McLaren
11:05
14 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
37:41
28 Pieter Serry
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1:30:54
30 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1:34:49
72 Davide Ballerini
Deceuninck - Quick Step
3:30:50
122 Iljo Keisse
Deceuninck - Quick Step
5:32:08
131 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
Deceuninck - Quick Step
5:53:47
1 Arnaud Démare
Groupama - FDJ
233 pt
2 Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
184 pt
3 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
108 pt
4 Filippo Ganna
INEOS Grenadiers
87 pt
5 Josef Černý
CCC Team
78 pt
6 Andrea Vendrame
AG2R La Mondiale
78 pt
7 Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
77 pt
8 Simon Pellaud
Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec
70 pt
9 Tao Geoghegan Hart
INEOS Grenadiers
66 pt
10 Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
61 pt
14 Davide Ballerini
Deceuninck - Quick Step
49 pt
19 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
Deceuninck - Quick Step
39 pt
21 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
36 pt
58 Iljo Keisse
Deceuninck - Quick Step
14 pt
78 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
6 pt
97 Fausto Masnada
Deceuninck - Quick Step
2 pt
103 Pieter Serry
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1 pt
1 Ruben Guerreiro
EF Pro Cycling
234 pt
2 Tao Geoghegan Hart
INEOS Grenadiers
157 pt
3 Thomas De Gendt
Lotto Soudal
122 pt
4 Rohan Dennis
INEOS Grenadiers
119 pt
5 Ben O'Connor
NTT Pro Cycling
71 pt
6 Jai Hindley
Team Sunweb
71 pt
7 Wilco Kelderman
Team Sunweb
55 pt
8 Filippo Ganna
INEOS Grenadiers
48 pt
9 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolás
INEOS Grenadiers
45 pt
10 Einer Rubio Reyes
Movistar Team
44 pt
20 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
21 pt
21 Davide Ballerini
Deceuninck - Quick Step
21 pt
28 Pieter Serry
Deceuninck - Quick Step
18 pt
58 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
4 pt
72 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1 pt
1 Tao Geoghegan Hart
INEOS Grenadiers
85:40:21
2 Jai Hindley
Team Sunweb
0:39
3 João Almeida
Deceuninck - Quick Step
2:57
4 Sergio Samitier Samitier
Movistar Team
35:29
5 James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick Step
37:41
6 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
38:10
7 Aurélien Paret-Peintre
AG2R La Mondiale
45:04
8 Ben O'Connor
NTT Pro Cycling
1:02:57
9 Sam Oomen
Team Sunweb
1:03:46
10 Matteo Fabbro
BORA - hansgrohe
1:13:49
13 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
Deceuninck - Quick Step
1:34:49
42 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
Deceuninck - Quick Step
5:53:47
1 INEOS Grenadiers 257:15:58
2 Deceuninck - Quick Step 22:32
3 Team Sunweb 28:50
4 Bahrain - McLaren 32:50
5 BORA - hansgrohe 1:12:34
6 NTT Pro Cycling 1:49:59
7 AG2R La Mondiale 2:04:38
8 Movistar Team 2:08:26
9 Astana Pro Team 2:29:44
10 Trek - Segafredo 2:42:36

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