João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) made no secret of his frustration with Jonas Vingegaard's (Visma-Lease a Bike) defensive stance on stage 7 of the Vuelta a España, despite understanding the Danish rider's tactics.

During the final climb to Cerlers, Vingegaard maintained a conservative approach, as he had done in the previous stage. While the victory went to Almeida's teammate, Juan Ayuso, the group of favorites remained relatively calm until the final 7 kilometers, when the Portuguese attempted to stir the race.

With the help of Marc Soler, Almeida made several attacks to try to break up the group of favorites and gain time on Vingegaard. However, unable to break away from either the pre-race favorite or Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), the Portuguese signaled for changes that never came.

"I saw that they [Visma] didn't want a tough finish. I asked Marc to push a bit to try, I thought the climb was a bit tougher to be honest," Almeida told Eurosport at the finish.

Regarding Vingegaard's lack of cooperation, Almeida commented with a hint of irony: "He didn't really need to shoot, I understand that. But that's just how it is. After all, he almost never shoots, right?"

Almeida currently sits third in the general classification, 2'41" behind leader Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) and 8 seconds behind Vingegaard. The UAE Team Emirates rider is looking forward to the more challenging stages of the second week, which include uphill finishes such as Angliru and La Farrapona.

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