He's Still Here Joao Almeida defended his Maria Rosa for the 10th consecutive day, sprinting up to second place on stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia in Monselice to extend his overall lead to 40 seconds. A week after the scheduled finish in Milan, or even earlier depending on the circumstances, the Detunink-Quick-Step neo-professional seems increasingly comfortable in his role as Grand Tour leader.

In Friday's finale, Almeida rode familiar terrain in Colli Euganei, south of Padua. Like the poet Ugo Foscolo, he spent his formative years in these hills and ran a season in the colors of the local Uniuro Trevigiani in 2017, his first year out of junior school.

Almeida recited the final stanza of the stage and deftly dealt with Roccolo and Caraone, two consecutive hills where the Maglia Rosa group was reduced to just 20 riders in the final stages of the race.

"I knew the last 30 km well. It was a road I was used to riding. It was important to know the roads, the corners, the small hills," said Almeida, who rode with teammates James Knox, Mikel Honoré, and Fausto Masnada. [Almeida lost to Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), but he did get a six-second bonus second to extend his lead over Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb). Said he, "I wanted to win, but one player was faster on the line."

Almeida, 22, was supposed to support another young rider, Lemko Evenpoel, in this Giro, but was promoted to leader after the Belgian was sidelined after a big crash on Il Lombardia. This meant that Detunink-Quickstep would be racing with Almeida at the center of the field. For example, the information gathered by Evenpoel, who scouted the Valdobbiadene time trial on Saturday, was directed at Almeida.

"I talked to Lemko before, and the sport director here has seen the TT," Almeida said. 'I'll run it myself tomorrow morning. It's really important that I give it my all."

Almeida took the maglia rosa on the summit of Mount Etna on stage 3, but much of the overall lead was carved out in the opening time trial in Palermo. Vincenzo Nibai's coach, Paolo Slongo, noted that whether Almeida would be strong against the clock was unknown ahead of Saturday's time trial, and Maria Rosa was unsure himself what the results would be on the 34.1 km route from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene He admitted that he was not sure.

"I've never done a time trial this long before. Almeida said, "If it's a good day, I might be able to keep the jersey, maybe even make a little gap. If it's a bad day, I'll probably close the gap to the GC contenders. We'll see how my legs are tomorrow. Certainly, I will give it my all."

When Almeida took the jersey for the first time in Sicily, his race lead was treated as a setback by the crash and subsequent abandonment of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). Since then, uncertainty over the impact of the coronavirus on the Giro has often overshadowed the race itself.

But it is clear that Portugal's young direct rivals are increasingly wary of his chances of winning the overall, no matter when the race is cancelled. This week, with Tortortoleto Lido, Cesenatico, and Monselice, there were three days of potential pitfalls, but Almeida held onto his lead with a minimum of fuss.

"Sure, I'm holding the lead every day, so maybe they're starting to think I can hold it until the end," Almeida said.

"Tomorrow will be my eleventh day in the jersey. It will be special to start in the pink skinsuit. I can't wait. Plus, I'm starting from last place, so it's going to be interesting."