"You don't win in the first week, but you can lose"
João Almeida's career will forever be marked by some of his visits to Italy, from his second-place finish in the 2018 U23 Giro to his surprising fourth-place finish in the 2020 Giro after nearly two weeks in pink. João Almeida's greatest dream has always been in France, with the opportunity to compete in the Tour for the first time in 2024, finishing fourth overall. João Almeida's paths, in one way or another, have always crossed Spain. In the last five years, between Deceuninck Quick-Step's plans and UAE Team Emirates' commitments, he has competed in more than ten one- or three-week races in the neighboring country. Until 2025, he had never won a race; his time in the Basque Country had the power to rewrite history . Now, the Vuelta is coming. A Vuelta that continues to change his course.
The Portuguese rider chose the Giro as his favorite race in the early years of his professional career, managing in 2023 to "avenge" that bittersweet fourth-place finish from 2020 with a podium finish behind the dominant Primoz Roglic, who gave a veritable recital in the decisive individual time trial, and Geraint Thomas. At the same time, he's cut out to be a Tour rider, at this stage still serving as the main squire for an alien named Tadej Pogacar. The Vuelta a España is everything else. For many, the third grand tour of the season is the one that best captures the Pantera's characteristics; for everyone, the Pantera's true worth has yet to be reflected in the final classification. And it is in this context that João Almeida returns to the road.
If the Vuelta was a certainty at the start of the season, now doubts remain. The first concerns his physical condition, following a serious crash that led to his withdrawal from the Tour . On the one hand, being "spared" from two tough weeks at the Tour de France could have been beneficial, but the break due to a fractured rib prevented him from reaching the level of preparation he had hoped for. The second concern concerns the team itself, which will not have the "eucalyptus" Pogacar to take over everything around him in terms of prominence but will surprisingly rely on Juan Ayuso, who rode two classics after withdrawing from the Giro after a start in which he won the Tirreno-Adriatico and finished second in Catalunya. The third doubt is more general: will Emirates have the capacity to stop the Visma "train"?
I tried, but I couldn't do it: João Almeida withdraws from the Tour
"I've been talking to João; he still has some pain in his ribs, but his injuries are fine. The fracture he suffered isn't serious, but it was impossible for him to continue in the Tour. Now he just needs to rest and recover to be at the Vuelta. The plan is to reach 100%," Joxean Matxin, sports director of UAE Team Emirates, emphasized at the end of the Tour. "Three weeks, a dream. All kinds of pain. All kinds of joy. That's the Tour. Huge respect for the peloton—there are no easy victories here. Proud to wear the yellow jersey again and even prouder of the people who made it possible. You know who you are. João Almeida, we missed you in Paris, but the Vuelta is calling," Tadej Pogacar also recalled after winning the Tour de France for the fourth time and before announcing he wouldn't be in Spain.
"It's a special feeling to start the Vuelta as team leader, especially with the form I've shown this season. The recovery from the crash in the Tour has been smooth, and my training has been improving. I hope to continue progressing in the coming weeks and be close to my best level at the start of the Vuelta. We have a strong group around us, and I believe we can fight for something big," Almeida emphasized when the Emirates team announced its presence at the Vuelta , almost reciprocating all the support his teammates and directors gave him after the crash in France. "The Vuelta is a very special race for me, my home race. I've been training well, I'm feeling great, and I'm 100% focused on having a good race for the team," Juan Ayuso stated laconically.
▲ After a fall in which he fractured a rib among several bruises, João Almeida was forced to abandon the Tour in the ninth stage
CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/EPA
Now, in the run-up to the start of the Vuelta a España, the signs themselves were almost pushing Almeida to the team leadership, at a time when everything was in place to renew with UAE Team Emirates for another two years until 2028. Unlike Juan Ayuso, who has a long-standing relationship with the team but is no longer represented by his father and has signed with a new manager, a move that some saw as a "signal" that he could be opening the door to other teams seeking leaders for major races. "I feel good on the team; I have all the resources there, everything I need to continue to evolve. It's a team that's well-positioned for the long term; it continues to work and strive to evolve and improve in every aspect. It's an environment I enjoy, an environment I enjoy. I like the staff , my teammates…," the Portuguese rider admitted in interviews with the newspapers Record and A Bola .
????️ The Iberian duo is coming for it all! @TeamEmiratesUAE is at #LaVuelta25 for the win and won't settle for less ????
????️ The Iberian duo comes for all! @TeamEmiratesUAE reaches #LaVuelta25 with a single objective: the final victory in Madrid ???? pic.twitter.com/HGNhthcUPy
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 21, 2025
"Relationship with Ayuso? We get along well. We've had some minor friction in the past , but things always work out in the moment, and things get resolved. It's natural for things like this to happen sometimes, but overall, we get along well and we're aiming for success as a team, winning stages, and also trying to win the Vuelta. I think everything has to go well. Problems for the lead? I don't think so. There has to be mutual respect, obviously. Since we have a very strong opponent [Jonas Vingegaard], if we can play two cards to tire our opponent, I think it will be a great advantage. There's that positive side," also noted Almeida, who once again showed his fighting spirit in his projection for the last Grand Tour of 2025: he may not be 100% yet, but he arrives at "90% and very fit" and points to Visma's strength as a potential positive factor for making the race tougher. Regarding favorites, one: Jonas Vingegaard.
"Relationship with Ayuso? We get along well. We've had some minor friction in the past, but things always work out in the moment. We're going with the goal of succeeding as a team, winning stages, and trying to win the Vuelta. Are there any leadership issues? I don't think so. There has to be mutual respect. Since we have a very strong opponent [Vingegaard], if we can play with two cards to tire him out, I think it will be a great advantage.
João Almeida, UAE Team Emirates runner
"I feel good, the sensations are good. Training has been going well. Obviously, the preparation wasn't the best, but we're starting with optimism. I think I'm one of the favorite riders to challenge for the race, but I also think that, due to what happened at the Tour, I'm not arriving with the best preparation. After the crash, I was out for a long time because of a broken rib, but it's what we have. The little time I managed to train went well. Visma has a very strong team. I'm counting on them giving it their all in the first week, starting to make a difference, and I'll have to give my best and be strong psychologically. Considering the situation, I'd be very happy with the podium; it's something I aspire to," he emphasized. "My form will always be a bit of a mystery. Vingegaard? He'll arrive quite well, in divine form. My season has also been more exhausting than his," he added.
Meanwhile, João Almeida downplayed the clashes he's had with the Dane this season, where he ended up coming out on top, from the Volta ao Algarve to Paris-Nice, including the individual time trial in the opening week of the Tour: "Things may be different now, but these are results that give us motivation and more confidence for this Vuelta. If I've already beaten him a few times, why not one more? Obviously, the Tour is the Tour, and he's always at a higher level in the Tour. I hope that in this Vuelta a España he'll be a little lower than that... We should start with some ambition but always with our feet on the ground. Could I have made it to the Tour podium? We'd only know if I'd been there. Personally, I almost certainly saw myself on the podium, but we'll never know, will we? We'll have to wait until next year..."
▲ João Almeida beat Jonas Vingegaard in three moments this season: Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice (pictured) and the Tour individual time trial
ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT
"I've only trained for two weeks, a little more, at 100%, without limitations. Even so, I'm in a reasonably good state of physical shape. The fracture recovery went quite well, but I spent ten or eleven days without touching a bike, on complete rest... It's not a long, solid preparation, and it's three weeks of racing, but I'm confident. Vingegaard has a very strong team for all terrains, but I believe that ends up favoring me because they'll want to take on the race and toughen it up, which is good for me. We also have an equally strong team, almost as strong as theirs. Our team has riders who trust me and know what I'm worth," he emphasized, without any major highlights for now beyond the highly anticipated duel between Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates, which will be one of the key factors in deciding the 2025 edition.
We're delighted to announce our eight-man squad for #LaVuelta25 , with @JooAlmeida98 returning to lead the team after injury ????????????????
Offering the team plenty of options in the mountains, co-leader @juann_ayuso will make his third appearance in his home Grand Tour ????️ #WeAreUAE … pic.twitter.com/vbhlmRhxFC
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) July 29, 2025
"I'm really looking forward to the Vuelta. I'm here to try to win the general classification, and with the team's full support, I think that's a realistic goal. There are many stages where you can make a difference, so it's important to be strong from the start," Jonas Vingegaard told Visma-Lease a Bike. "Winning the general classification is our main goal; there's no point in beating around the bush. Jonas will be our leader. In Sepp Kuss, we have a former winner; Matteo Jorgenson has also recovered well after the Tour. With Wilco Kelderman, Ben Tulett, Victor Campenaerts, Dylan van Baarle, and Axel Zingle, we have a team that can help in any situation. We'll have many interesting stages, including the team time trial and the individual stage on stage 18, as well as the finishes in Angliru and the World Cup [Guadarrama], which are special," added director Grischa Niermann.
???? The @vismaleeaseabike hive arrives with the queen bee ready to claim #LaVuelta25 ! ????
???? The hive of @vismaleaseabike arrives with a bee that reigns that #LaVuelta25 ! ???? pic.twitter.com/2ErvuIdOlo
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 21, 2025
The 90th edition of the Vuelta a España boasts growing numbers, with a record 23 teams among the 184 riders. Other interesting facts include 25 commissaires, 305 media outlets, 575 people accompanying the athletes, 900 accredited cars, around a thousand registered journalists, photographers, and camera crews, 3,000 people surrounding the entire organization, 8,000 police officers and other security personnel, and an expected one million spectators per stage worldwide for the race, which will once again be broadcast on Eurosport. And on the road? 3,186 kilometers to cover in 21 days—with two days off in between—through four countries (Italy, France, Andorra, and Spain), ten autonomous communities, and 18 Spanish provinces. These are places that João Almeida has largely come to know over time.
The Portuguese rider, who entered the World Tour via Deceuninck Quick-Step in 2020 and joined UAE Team Emirates from 2022 onwards, has always had seasons in the neighboring country. What's more: in 11 participations in one- or three-week races, he only finished outside the top 10 once (in last year's Vuelta, which he had to abandon due to illness), finished on the podium six times, and even achieved a final victory in an event, in this case this year's Tour of the Basque Country. What's missing? For now, a top-three finish in the Vuelta. For the future? A major triumph in a three-week Grand Tour, and Spain could be that stage.
"If he didn't suffer any major after-effects and wasn't out for too long, I think it would have been good for him [João Almeida]. The Tour is a very grueling race, the most demanding for a cyclist, due to the speed and the constant tension. So, not competing for three weeks may have been beneficial. But of course, every rider is different."
Alberto Contador, former Vuelta champion (2008, 2012 and 2014) and current Eurosport commentator
João Almeida finished third in the 2020 Vuelta a Burgos behind Remco Evenepoel and Mikel Landa, third in the 2022 Vuelta a Catalunya, beaten by Sergio Higuita and Richard Carapaz (stars of one of the greatest breakaways in recent years, covering over 100 kilometers), second in Burgos in 2022 in a duel with Pavel Sivakov, and third again in Catalunya in 2023, beaten by Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel. This year, experimenting with different routes, he finished second in the Vuelta a Comunitat Valenciana, 18 seconds behind Santiago Buitrago, and beat Enric Mas and Max Schachmann in the Basque Country, at the start of the best period of the season that followed with victories in Romandie and Switzerland . Looking only at the Vuelta, this will be the fourth participation in the race after the fourth place in 2022 (the victory went to Remco, with Enric Mas and his teammate Juan Ayuso completing the podium), the ninth position in 2023 which was completely dominated by the Visma of Sepp Kuss, Vingegaard and Roglic and the withdrawal in 2024 .
Unlike last year, when Primoz Roglic finished more than two minutes ahead of Ben O'Connor and Enric Mas, the battle will once again be reserved mainly for Visma and Emirates, with Sepp Kuss trying to redeem himself from his 14th place finish in 2024 in support, with Matteo Jorgenson and João Almeida recovering after a bitter withdrawal after contracting Covid-19 when he was third overall, only behind Ben O'Connor (who "gained" more than six and a half minutes on the sixth stage, finishing in Yunquera) and Primoz Roglic, flanked by Juan Ayuso, Jay Vine, Marc Soler, Felix Grosschartner, Mikkel Bjerg, Domen Novak, and Ivo Oliveira. Even so, Alberto Contador, a former Spanish rider who won the Vuelta three times in 2008, 2012, and 2014, admits that surprises may arise.
"I don't think it's going to be just a duel between Visma and Emirates. They're obviously the leading teams, but in cycling, anything can happen. It's true that Visma brought a very strong pack to protect Jonas Vingegaard, but I believe the other riders also have the ability to make a difference," the Eurosport commentator told Observador, looking at other names that have been touted as potential surprises in a year without Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, or Remco Evenepoel, such as Ben O'Connor, Jay Hindley, Egan Bernal, Derek Gee, Santiago Buitrago, Lorenzo Fortunato, and Giulio Ciccone, among others (Richard Carapaz postponed his return with EF Education due to injury, Mikel Landa is back in Bahrain's squad after a long layoff).
▲ João Almeida achieved his first major overall victory in a Spanish race this year, with his triumph in the Basque Country
Tim De Waele
"I think both teams are very strong, and everything will depend more on the form each leader is in when they arrive at the Vuelta than on the names themselves. UAE Team Emirates has a very powerful structure, but Visma also brings high-quality riders like Matteo Jorgenson, Victor Campenaerts, Dylan Van Baarle, and Sepp Kuss. The two teams seem evenly matched, and the decisive factor will be each rider's fitness in the final Grand Tour of the year," adds Contador, who is fourth on the list of riders with the most Grand Tours won (a total of seven, including three Vueltas, two Tours, and two Giro), behind only Eddy Merckx (11), Bernard Hinault (ten), and Jacques Anquetil (eight).
???? What an ?????????????????????????????? yesterday at the Torino team presentation.
???? What?????????????????????????????? ayer in the presentation of Turin teams.
???? @cxcling pic.twitter.com/9TNe8qfVt8
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 22, 2025
Speaking specifically about João Almeida, the Spaniard places the UAE Team Emirates rider among the top finishers and emphasizes that, if he has fully recovered from the injuries caused by the crash at the end of the first week of the Tour, the two-week break could even be beneficial during the Vuelta. "I think the rest could also be positive. If he didn't suffer any major after-effects and wasn't out for too long, I think it will have done him good. The Tour is a very grueling race, the most demanding for a cyclist, due to the speed and constant tension. Therefore, not competing for the three weeks may even have been beneficial. But of course, every rider is different," emphasizes Alberto Contador.
It depends on each rider, and it also depends on the dynamics of the stages themselves. The race, which kicks off this Saturday, has two stages opening on Italian soil without apparent difficulties, but it begins early on, tackling medium and high mountain courses in Italy, France, and Andorra, with a team time trial in between before the break in Pamplona on September 1st, which precedes true "walls" like the Angliru or the Farrapona. That's why, analyzing the entire route over 21 days, Contador emphasizes the importance of the days before the first break, due to the narrow margin for a more negative day that could jeopardize everything.
"With the route designed this year, stage 14 will already have seven hilltop finishes, including two legendary finishes like Angliru and Farrapona. I believe it will be a Vuelta where you need to arrive in a very good state of fitness. It's true that you can't win the race in the first week, but you can lose it."
Alberto Contador, former Vuelta champion (2008, 2012 and 2014) and current Eurosport commentator
"It's going to be a more decisive first week than usual, it's true. With the route designed this year, stage 14 will already have seven hilltop finishes, including two legendary finishes like Angliru and Farrapona. I believe it will be a Vuelta where you need to arrive in very good shape. It's true that you don't win the race in the first week, but you can lose it," warns the former champion, who has fond memories of those encounters: it was at Angliru in 2017 that Contador, then with Trek, secured his final stage victory in a grand tour in what was also his last Vuelta.
????????????????From Italy to Madrid????️ Are you ready for what is coming? ?????????⛰️????????
????????????????From Italy to Madrid????️ Are you prepared for what comes next? ?????????⛰️????????
????️ 23/08 – 14/09
???? #LaVuelta25 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/a49zPtI9ep
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 13, 2025
Finally, and also considering the record 23 teams participating in the Vuelta a España, the former rider who rode for ONCE-Eroski, Discovery, Astana, Saxo Bank, and Trek is pleased with the current situation his sport is experiencing. "I think cycling has evolved, and in a very positive way. It has become much more professional, and this is reflected in the level of racing and the budgets that teams generate. It's a very profitable sport for sponsors , and I consider it excellent news that there are more and more teams competing in the Grand Tours," Alberto Contador concluded to Observador.
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