UAE Emirates recruit Almeida wins Tour of Poland
Team Deceuninck rider Portugal's Joao Almeida (C) rides in the ascent of the Passo dello Spluga pass, Switzerland, during the 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2021 cycling race, 164km between Verbania and Valle Spluga - Alpe Motta (Madesimo) on May 29, 2021. (Photo: Luca Bettini/AFP)
KRAKOW: Portuguese all-rounder Joao Almeida of Deceuninck-Quick Step won the Tour of Poland on Sunday as the seventh stage was clinched by EF Education-Nippo's Julius Van den Berg from an escape.
Almeida will be joining Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar at UAE Emirates next season and winning three stage here showed why the gulf-state backed team swooped for his signature.
The 23-year-old described as "not good but simply sensational" by team boss Patrick Lefevere won stage 2 with an attack and stage 4 with a sprint and finished second on Saturday's individual time-trial.
Almeida beat off some stiff competition to grab the title with Slovenia's Matej Mohoric of Bahrain Victorious coming second at 20sec and Ineos Grenadiers' local rider Michal Kwiatkowski third at 27sec.
It is the second year in succession that a Deceuninck rider won the World Tour event after Remco Evenepoel was champion last year, the younger man winning the Tour of Denmark on Saturday.
For the 24-year-old Van den Berg it was a first win at this level and he took it by beating three escape group rivals to the finish line after a long four-man break.
