The short but brutal stage 13 of the Vuelta a España provided the biggest GC shakeup of the race so far as red jersey hopefuls Remco Evenepoel and João Almeida dramatically dropped out of contention 90km from the finish atop the Tourmalet.
Both men fell into trouble on the first major climb of the day, the hors catégorie Col d'Aubisque, with the pair facing a two-hour battle to the line as their GC aspirations dissolved on the race's hardest day yet.
While reigning champion Remco Evenepoel came home 27 minutes down to 19th, UAE Team Emirates co-leader Almeida has hung onto a top-10 placing, having crossed the line 6:47 behind race leader Sepp Kuss.
Speaking after the stage, he called the stage "the worst day on the bike I ever had" and explained what went so wrong.
"I think I was struggling since the first kilometre," Almeida told Eurosport after the stage. "I've been sick the last days so I knew I wouldn't be good. But I kept fighting. It is what it is. It's cycling sometimes.
"Pain in the body, nose, throat – like a flu. It's frustrating; things were going very good, but it is what it is."
Almeida, who lay sixth overall heading into the day having finished fifth at the race last year, still has every chance of making his way back up the order given the plethora of hard mountain days still to come.
However, with teammates Juan Ayuso and Marc Soler well up the standings in fourth and sixth place, he pledged to help his squad to work towards a podium spot come Madrid.
20-year-old Ayuso, who was third on his race debut last year, looks the best bet for UAE Team Emirates now, though the formidable Jumbo-Visma triumvirate of Kuss, Primož Roglič, and Jonas Vingegaard – 1-2-3 on the stage and now also on the GC – will be tough to shift.
"The team has been amazing with me. I just didn't want to throw everything away. I kept suffering as much as I could," Almeida said. "It's probably the worst day on the bike I ever had, but I think these are the moments that define you and make a difference. It is what it is.
"In my case, I'll just do whatever I can – if I can help Juan in the future as well, we're going to fight for the win. We're not going to be satisfied with third or fourth place. We're going to throw everything at it, all or nothing. That's what we'll do as a team."
