by Team Vae said Joao Almeida that he almost blown the sweat tour on Sunday before recovering to recover Kevin Vauquelin’s victory overnight.
“I think I started too quickly,” said the Portuguese driver uphill after completing 10.1 km.
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“I surpassed at the beginning. In the end I hoped to have enough gas to push in the last kilometer, but in the end it was not necessary.”
Almeida defeated the Austrian Felix Gall by 25 seconds and the Frenchman Vauquelin, who was fourth on that day, for 40 seconds.
“It is a lesson: you should never give up,” said Almeida, who lost the race by 22 seconds last year. “Sometimes things are going wrong and nothing is perfect, but they have to try it. We continued to try and we did it.”
It was the second victory in the episode in a row for Almeida, who had cut Vauquelin’s lead to 33 seconds on Saturday.
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The ultimately dominant journey on Sunday meant that the Portuguese driver Vauquelin defeated in the overall ranking by 1:07.
“I’m super happy. I made a good climb and felt really good,” said Almeida.
Almeida is a team-mate of the reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar, who recently won another warm-up race with the Du Dauphine criterion. Almeida said he understands what his role would be.
“I will have time to enjoy this victory and I’ll be ready for the Tour de France,” said Almeida.
“I will support Tadej Pogacar there and hope that we can achieve more great victories.”
The Breakout star Scotsman Oscar Onley was 1:12 behind Almeida on the day and took the third place of 51 seconds behind Vauquelin.
Vauquelin tried to become the first French driver who won every stage race on the Elite Road Racing World Tour Circuit, since Christophe Moreau claimed the Du Dauphine criterion in 2007.
PB/EA
