The two seconds Joan Almeida earned on his rivals in the uphill finish of San Daniele del Friuli may not mean much by the time the Giro d'Italia reaches Milan.

At the finish line, Soinier put his jacket over Almeida's shoulders, just as Danny Ray put his cape over a fallen James Brown. He is not yet ready to leave the stage.

"I felt good," Almeida said. Sometimes the best defense is an attack." In a race as steep as this one, everyone is drained of energy.

None of the overall contenders took action on stage 16, three laps of the Monte di Lagonia finish circuit, finishing more than 12 minutes behind the day's winner, Jan Tratnik (Bahrain McLaren). But on the final kick through the streets of San Daniele, Almeida showed crisp acceleration to test his rivals' concentration as well as their strength. 'And he said, "I'm not going to let you down.

In the overall standings, Almeida now trails Wilco Kelderman by 17 seconds, Jai Hindley by 2:58, and two-time winner Vincenzo Nibali by 3:31. But the toughest stage of the Giro begins Wednesday with a tough stage through Forcella Valbona and Monte Bondone to Madonna di Campiglio.

Almeida acknowledged that the mammoth pass ahead was very different from the short, sharp climb through San Daniele, but dismissed the notion that he had expended too much energy on Tuesday in search of a relatively small reward.

"There is no big comparison between this and what we have in front of us. The final climb was really short and explosive, but everyone had to use energy, and since winning the Maglia Rosa on the summit of Etna two weeks ago, Almeida has repeatedly stressed that he has not yet discovered his limits as a rider. More will be revealed in the coming days in the high mountains.

"I couldn't be more confident. I don't know how far I can go. I'm confident, but I'm prepared for the worst. I know that anything can happen."

For Almeida, there will be no rest even if he survives Wednesday's series of passes with Maglia Rosa on his back. He will have to do it all over again the next day in Stelvio. Despite concerns about summit conditions, Almeida expressed hope that he would be able to climb the Giro route.

"I know the Stelvio well and I like it a lot because I've already done it twice in training. I hope it is possible. It might snow because of the altitude. I don't know if I can climb it, but I hope I can.

Of course, there is no guarantee that Almeida will still be in the pink at that point; Astana director Giuseppe Martinelli, appearing on RAI TV, wondered if Almeida's final attack was a last stunt before saying goodbye to Reid.

"The acceleration today belonged to a young man who didn't want to give in but knew it would be tough. He showed courage." He is 22 years old and he attacked in front of everyone with Maglia Rosa on his back."