"It's about time we were on the radar," says GC contender Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) of his strategy for Sunday's crunch stage of the Giro d'Italia. But the Portuguese racer, who led the Giro for 17 days in 2020, is currently ruling out the option of wearing the pink uniform in 2022.

Almeida has been a low-profile figure in this year's Giro d'Italia, with hopes of making a big impact in the opening TT not materializing. Before the stage in Etna, Almeida showed a positive attitude, telling Cycling News that "it's never too early to get to the front," but when it came down to it, he stayed with the main group on the climbs. And on Friday's long ride through the mountains of Basilicata, the 23-year-old Almeida was equally anonymous in the main peloton of GC favorites.

But after the eighth stage through Naples, Almeida held on to seventh place in the GC, and on Sunday at the Blockhaus, he knew the wait was over.

"It's going pretty well so far and I like being under the radar," Almeida told a small group of reporters at the start of stage 8. 'It's looking good. But Sunday is a big day, and if we want to fight for the podium, now is the time to get noticed. Let's see if we can do that."

Almeida named four rivals who will be in contention for GC: "Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco), Richard Karapas (Ineos Grenadiers), Romain Bardet (Team DSM), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious). They will fight the Giro."

But for now, Almeida has ruled himself out of contention for the win. He said, "It's going to be difficult. There are a lot of good riders here, so a podium here would be like a victory for me. At the moment, I think it's a little bit too much to try to win.

Almeida, long the leader, is not the only team on the cards for the 2020 Giro. Besides a breakaway with Davide Formolo, as in stage 7, UAE Team Emirates also has options in a group sprint with Fernando Gaviria and Max Richeze, unlike the other GC teams except DSM. Almeida, however, sees only advantages in this. [Fernando and Max are good on the flats and will protect me on the windy stages. They have a lot of experience in those areas," Almeida said. And on the big mountain stages, there aren't that many riders in the finale."

In any case, the next challenge will not be a flat one, and Almeida, like other GC contenders, is confident that it will be a real chance for an overall battle to unfold. His own particular view, however, is that in addition to the fact that the Brockhaus is a climb-driven challenge, there are relatively few chances in the stages immediately following it.

"The next five days (after the blockhouse) are not so hard and there are not so many chances. So I think we'll see some players attacking on Sunday," he reasoned.

However, it remains to be seen whether he will be among them.