Portuguese cyclist João Almeida will be a UAE Emirates bet on the 2026 tours of Italy and Spain, thus missing the Tour, the Portuguese rider’s team announced.
Almeida, who in the last two years was one of the main supporters of the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar in the Gallic race, will be the UAE’s bet in the other two major tours, being replaced in his role in the Tour by the Mexican Isaac del Toro.
“I like all the races and, looking for the best options, I really like this schedule and I can’t wait to get back to the Giro”said Almeida, 27, in statements to Cycling News.
For this year’s calendar, Almeida starts with the Tour à Comunidade Valenciana, Clássica da Figueira, Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Nice, which then changes compared to last year, followed by the Tour à Catalunya and a preparation stage for the Tour a Itália, which starts on May 8. After the Giro, the Volta a Burgos (Spain) follows, in preparation for the Vuelta, scheduled to start on August 22nd.
After joining the UAE Team Emirates-XRG in 2022, Almeida has been a key element in the group of runners supporting Pogacar in the Tour, looking for the Slovenian to achieve his fifth triumph in the world’s main velocipede race this year, after victories in 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025.
In the last edition, Almeida ended up being unable to make his full contribution, as a fall in the seventh stage forced him to withdraw from the race in the ninth round.
“I don’t think Tadej really needs me to win a big tour. It’s better to maximize our results and victories if we share. It’s a smarter decision to do it this way”, highlighted the Portuguese cyclistwho was fourth in the Tour in 2024, in addition to being fourth in the Giro in 2020, the year in which he led the race for 15 days, also having two third places (2023 and 2024) in the Italian race and a second place in this year’s Vuelta, where he only lost to the Danish Jonas Vingegaard.
When presenting the race calendar for 2026, João Almeida stressed that he would like to fight for a great run: “I feel like I can do it, if everything goes well. There are other runners stronger than me, but the strongest don’t always win.”
The Portuguese racer didn’t seem bothered by missing the Tour this year: “Not really. I’m looking forward to competing in the Giro again and, sometimes, it’s good to change the program. The Vuelta will also be a big goal.”