'Not my problem!' says João Almeida of UAE's Tour de France hierarchy

Portuguese climber looks ahead to Tour de France debut and discusses his stubborn style of riding that has made for a social media meme parade

09:25, Tuesday 9th January 2024

George Poole

Junior Writer

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João Almeida is likely to ride the Tour de France and Vuelta a España for UAE Team Emirates in 2024

December brought quite a stir in the cycling world courtesy of UAE Team Emirates. Not only was Tadej Pogačar to ride both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in pursuit of achieving 'the double,' but his supporting cast for the Tour consisted of no less than five of the world's best climbers.

João Almeida, Adam Yates, Marc Soler, Juan Ayuso and Pavel Sivakov would be the men tasked with helping Pogačar overthrow the dominant reign of Visma-Lease a Bike's Jonas Vingegaard. But how would the team encourage all five riders to get behind their leader and sacrifice their own opportunities if and when they appeared?

UAE Team Emirates' provisional Tour de France squad

This dilemma, Almeida says, is one for the team's sports directors. Speaking to GCN from UAE Team Emirates' training camp in La Nucia, Spain, the 25-year-old is fresh off the back of a 148km ride and hours of media indulgence, but still, he remains the composed, easy-going rider that we all have come to know on the bike.

"I think as long as we are all on the same page, it can work really really good," he says of the climber-heavy Tour de France selection.

"But if one guy is not on the page, then we might have a problem. It is up to the directors to manage it, I will do my job and my thing, then I can only control what I do, not what other people do."

When asked if the matter had been discussed within the team, Almeida clarifies that it had not as of yet, but laughs, "It is not my problem!"

Grand Tour podium a personal prerequisite for Tour de France debut

When speaking to the Portuguese rider, one gets the impression of a man comfortable within himself, happy with what has achieved in his first seasons in the WorldTour, yet ambitious enough to want more. That much is clear when he reveals that much like Sivakov, it was his decision to ask the team to send him to the Tour de France.

"It was my call. I wanted to do it already this year, but I got Covid in 2022 and I was aiming for the [Grand Tour] podium and I couldn’t get it that year," he said. "So before I moved on to the Tour I wanted to do the podium. I did it this year and then I just turn a page and go for the next one."

It is certainly a sensible stepping stone and one that, as he alludes to, he was able to achieve last year at the Giro d'Italia.

Almeida famously wore the Giro's pink jersey for 15 days in the 2020 edition, but with it being his first Grand Tour and at the age of 21, the then Deceuninck-Quick-Step rider surrendered to fourth place throughout the race's final days. Nevertheless, it was a sign of things to come for the neo-pro.

João Almeida's performance at the 2020 Giro d'Italia may have been overshadowed by the duel between Jai Hindley and Tao Geoghegan Hart in the final days, but it was truly one of the best Grand Tour debuts in recent memory

Sixth place followed at the Giro the following year, before Almeida's consistency saw him finish fifth at the Vuelta a España in 2022. There was always a feeling though, that the Portuguese could achieve more and finish on a podium. That moment arrived at this year's Giro, with Almeida finishing third behind Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and race winner Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Now, the 25-year-old is finally ready to take on the world's biggest race in July and whilst team duties may render his personal ambitions obsolete in this year's edition, Almeida is quietly confident that he could replicate his Giro d'Italia podium in France over the coming years.

"Every race I go to, I want to do my best. Of course, [it is] according to my teammates as well, if they are better than me, I will try to help them as well. And then of course, I want to be in my top shape in the Tour but with Tadej and the other guys, we will just see how things go and it’s also a pleasure for me to just help them out and do whatever I can."

Much like Yates and Jay Vine told GCN, Almeida notes that Pogačar's assault on the Giro-Tour double was an open secret within the UAE ranks. The Giro d'Italia podium finisher is looking forward to watching the race from home this year for the first time since turning pro and says if anyone can pull off the double, it is his teammate.

For Almeida, the spring will instead all be about striking the right balance between training and race dates as he looks to fine-tune his form towards a maiden appearance at the Tour.

"I will do Algarve, Paris-Nice, Catalunya, Amstel, Flèche, Liège, Suisse and the Tour. It is a lot of racing," he admits. "I prefer the race days to see how I am, because I’m that type of rider that when I am racing, I am just different. I cannot perform the same in the training, when I’m racing I just hit another level."

Almeida's racing schedule is certainly more ambitious than that of his rival from last year, Primož Roglič, who will be riding just three races before his appointment with Pogačar and Vingegaard at the Tour, but this will come as welcome news for one of the peloton's more popular riders.

The Portuguese climber is not one of cycling's TikTok stars, unlike EF Education-Cannondale's Alison Jackson, for example, nor is he a perennial winner in the ilk of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step). Instead, Almeida has made his mark in his own way, through a unique brand of stubborn racing.

One-week stage wins and Tour de France stage the ambitions

For those well versed with social media, the memes that surround Almeida's riding style will by now be well-known. For those less familiar, think Moe Szyslak ejecting Barney Gumble from the tavern in The Simpsons, only for Barney to reappear behind Moe within the blink of an eye.

View post on Twitter

In this scenario, Moe is the leading group on a climb and Barney Grumble is, of course, the obstinate Almeida refusing to be dropped for good as the summit encroaches into view. The point is, Almeida has made a name for himself by frequently being dropped from the lead of the race, only to motor his way back into contention after a prolonged chase.

Time and time again, the 25-year-old refuses to throw the towel in after initial disappointment, choosing to get his head down and grind his way back to the group rather than accepting his fate as one of the day's victims.

For many on social media, this has made the UAE Team Emirates rider an endearing and relatable character, and Almeida is fully on board with the memes that surround his commendable stubbornness.

"I think it is nice," he says with a smile. "I think it is the way I race. I do think this year it was slightly less because I felt I was stronger so I was not getting dropped that much."

Almeida does not make a habit of producing his own attacks, but on the rare occasion in the Giro d'Italia, he certainly made it count

The discussion turns to stage 16 of last year's Giro d'Italia, in which Almeida attacked in the closing metres to beat Geraint Thomas to the stage victory, a first at Grand Tour level for Almeida.

"That was one of the ones I attacked, but not so many, but overall that is my way of racing. If I don’t drop, I think it is a good sign, it means I am comfortable with the pace. I describe myself as mentally hard and I think that is one of my weapons."

Content with having added a Grand Tour stage win and a podium finish onto his palmarès, the Giro has clearly given Almeida a taste for more. Now just months away from his Tour de France debut, the Portuguese rider is dreaming of success on the sport's grandest stage.

"If I can win a stage in the Tour, that would be a dream come true and a podium would be amazing," he says. "Of course, any Grand Tour [win] would just be '[my] career is done,' whatever comes after just happens - I wouldn’t retire because I need to keep working - but I would just be super satisfied."

Before his bow in France, however, Almeida has four stage races in his flight path - Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice, Volta a Catalunya and the Tour de Suisse - and these are not just box-ticking exercises for last year's Tirreno-Adriatico runner-up. Rather, they are achievements to be had in themselves.

"I think I would like to win more one-week races, I have just won two I think, but I would like to win a Tirreno, Paris-Nice, a Catalunya, one of the best one-week races. I would like to prove that to myself," he responds, when asked what is left to tick off before retirement.

Though, as Almeida is quick to note, even success in all these races would not bring a premature end to his racing days. Such a decision would be unthinkable for the tenacious Almeida, a rider who may have achieved more in his career to date than most, but is forever driven by the competitive joys of professional cycling.

"Always I am wanting more, that fever of competition, that has always driven me."