João Almeida and UAE Team Emirates-XRG made a tremendous start to Itzulia Basque Country on Monday afternoon, with the Portuguese rider placing second in the opening individual time trial from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Baskonia-Alavés. It was a close-run affair in the Basque Country, with the 26-year-old posting a time of 18:37:82 (minutes:seconds:milliseconds), less than half a second down on the stage winner Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step).

 

The stage 1 course was only 16.5km in length and as such, time gaps were minimal on the day. A short kicker at Arzubiaga preceded a flat run to home in Baskonia-Alavés, with a tailwind treating the riders for the majority of the afternoon. Posting a negative split, Almeida went faster through the second half of the course and ran Schachmann incredibly close for the stage victory.

 

The performance sets the Portuguese climber up nicely for the rest of the week, with plenty of mountains on the agenda between now and the end of the race on Saturday.

 

It was certainly a unique start to the race for Almeida and his teammates on Sunday evening, with the team presentation taking place in the home stadium of Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, the Liga ACB basketball side otherwise known as Saski Baskonia. After shooting a few hoops on Sunday, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders swept down a special starting ramp on the basketball court this afternoon, before taking to the Basque roads to pit themselves against the clock.

 

Aside from Almeida, UAE Team Emirates-XRG also placed in the top 20 through Isaac del Toro, Felix Großschartner and Marc Soler. In 15th position, Del Toro was only pipped to the best young rider's jersey by Michael Leonard of Ineos Grenadiers. The Mexican averaged over 52km/h on his outing, coming across the line just 23 seconds in arrears of Schachmann's winning time.

 

The Emirati squad begin Itzulia Basque Country with a squad full of talent, with Almeida, Del Toro, Soler and Großschartner joined at the six-day WorldTour stage race by Igor Arrieta, Brandon McNulty and Vegard Stake Laengen.

 

Reflecting on his performance after crossing the line, Almeida noted his pacing strategy and cast an eye towards the rest of the race.

 

Almeida: 'I am super happy for today, I think I did really good. There was nothing left [in the legs] at the finish line, so that's good. It is just a pity it was so close to first place.

 

'Actually I even went a bit faster in the beginning than I wanted to. It is quite a short TT so you cannot really save much because it is super short. If you save in the start, you can never take that time back. I think I did this very well and I am happy with my feelings.

 

'It is a small effort, it is a good indicator but nothing special and also the other guys looked quite strong, so it is going to be a hard week. I think things are going good.'