Almeida takes first Vuelta stage win amid protests

The 13th stage of the Vuelta a Espana was again slowed down by pro-Palestinian protesters, so Portugal’s Joao Almeida outperformed overall leader Jonas Vingegaard to win.

With less than six kilometers to go before the summit finish at the Alto de Angliru, Almeida of UAE Team Emirates-XRG took over the lead from teammate Felix Grossschartner.

After three kilometers to the summit, the Portuguese and Vingegaard, the top two in the overall classification, broke away from Jai Hindley and 2023 champion Sepp Kuss, who the pair had to fight for the stage victory up the steep ascent.

Almeida closed the gap between Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard and 46 seconds with his first stage victory at the Vuelta, earning bonus seconds.

Almeida claimed, “This is a special one, but I still don’t believe it.”

“I simply set my pace from the bottom,” he said. “I did my part as best I could. Jonas was by my side all the time. I was anticipating his attack whenever we both were on the limit.

“I think this is the world’s most difficult climb, it’s crazy, and I’m really sore.”

Tom Pidcock, the reigning champion of the stage, is now two minutes and 18 seconds clear of Vingegaard, who won the Tour de France twice. He is still third overall.

In the overall classification, Australia’s Hindley ranks fourth after placing third in the 200. 7-kilometer ride from Cabezon de la Sal to Alto de L’Angliru.

Before the climb to Angliru, protesters who waved Palestinian flags obstructed the stage, hurting Nico Vinokurov, Bob Jungels, and Jefferson Cepeda as lead riders.

Security intervened before the stoppage lasted for a short while.

We were briefly slowed down by a demonstration during the race, but Vinokurov’s assertion that he knew we would be caught by the best didn’t. He had a three-minute lead over the peloton before the disruption.

Due to protests, the race organizers were forced to end stage 11 on Wednesday without a winner.

The Asturias government also urged Israel-Premier Tech to withdraw from the race after it staged a protest on Friday.

Asturias’ Stage 13 was finished, and the principality also saw two more stages pass through on Saturday and Sunday.

If Israel-Premier Tech withdrew from this year’s Vuelta, vice-president Gimena Llamedo said: “It would be best for everyone.

We can’t stop you from participating, Lamemedo said.

Not even Spain’s government has it, according to the statement. However, we can and want to declare our disagreements.

After stage 11, the team, which is owned by Israeli-Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams, claimed that if they decided to withdraw from the race, it would “set a dangerous precedent” in cycling.

We must not ignore the situation in Gaza. Llamedo urged the protesters to refrain from causing harm to the cyclists or disrupting the race, claiming that it was a matter of conscience rather than mere humanity.

In response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people and the hostage of 251, the Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry of the Hamas-run region, at least 64,231 people have died as a result of Israeli attacks in Gaza since then.

1. 4hrs 54mins 15secs Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

2. Same time Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike)

3. Jai Hindley (Aus/Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) + 28 seconds

4. Sepp Kuss (USA/Visma-Lease a Bike) + 30 seconds

5. Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) + 52secs

6. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) + 1 min 11 secs

7. Tom Pidcock (GB/Q 36.5 Pro Cycling Team) + 1min 16secs

8. Same time Matthew Riccitello (USA/Israel-Premier Tech)

9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) + 2 minutes, 15 secs

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) 49 hrs 30 minutes 54 secs

2. Juan Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) + 46 seconds

3. Tom Pidcock (GB/Q36.5 Pro Cycling) + 2mins 18secs

4. Jai Hindley (Aus/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) + 3 minutes

5. Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) + 3min 15secs

6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) + 4 minutes, 1 second.

7. Matthew Riccitello (USA/Israel-Premier Tech) + 4 minutes 33 seconds

8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) + 4 minutes, 54 seconds

9. Thorstein Traeen (Nor/Bahrain Victorious) + 5 minutes 21 secs