João Almeida was on familiar terrain on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, which brought the gruppo through Treviso on its flat run to the finish in Caorle. As a teenager, the Portuguese rider spent a season there with local squad Unieuro Trevigiani, a key waystation on his road to the WorldTour.
Almeida's position at this stage of the Giro, too, is a familiar one. Like in 2020, when he carried the maglia rosa for two weeks, he reaches the final days of this edition nursing genuine ambitions of winning the race outright. He enters the troika of decisive stages second overall, just 18 seconds behind Geraint Thomas (Ineos) and 11 ahead of Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).
