The UAE Team Emirates stirred up the cycling scene in December by revealing that Tadej Pogacar not only planned to compete in the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in pursuit of the coveted ‘double’ but also would have a “Dream Team” to support him in the Tour, composed of five of the world’s best climbers.
João Almeida, Adam Yates, Marc Soler, Juan Ayuso, and Pavel Sivakov would take on the responsibility of assisting Pogacar in the quest to overthrow the reign of Jonas Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike. However, the question arises of how the team would encourage these five athletes to support their leader and sacrifice their own ambitions?
All on the same page
In an interview with the British channel GCN, João Almeida revealed his expectations for this constellation of top stars in world cycling to work in harmony.
“I think as long as we’re all on the same page, it can work very well,” said the Portuguese, making it clear that supporting Tadej Pogacar and having a second leader is out of the question.
“But if a guy is not on the page, then we might have a problem. It’s up to the directors to manage that. I’ll do my job and my things, so I can only control what I do, not what other people do,” João Almeida added.
When asked if the matter has been discussed within the team, Almeida clarifies that it hasn’t yet but laughs, saying, “It’s not my problem!”
The 25-year-old Portuguese rider reveals that, like Sivakov, it was his decision to ask the team to send him to the Tour de France.
“The decision was mine. I wanted to do it in 2023, but I got Covid in 2022 and was aiming for the podium (of a Grand Tour) and couldn’t do it that year,” he said. “So, before moving on to the Tour, I wanted to step onto the podium. I did that last year, and now I’ve turned the page and will go to the next one.”
Now, he is finally ready to tackle the world’s biggest race in July, and although his roles in the team may make his personal ambitions secondary, Almeida is confident that he can replicate his podium finish at the Giro d’Italia in France in the coming years.
“In every race I go to, I want to give my best. Of course, according to my teammates as well, if they are better than me, I will try to help them too. If I manage to win a stage of the Tour, it would be a dream come true, and a podium would be amazing,” he says.
“And then, of course, I want to be in my best form at the Tour, but with Tadej and the other guys, we’ll see how things go, and it’s also a pleasure for me to help them and do what I can.”
Intense race schedule leading up to the Tour de France
For Almeida, the spring will consist of finding the right balance between training and race dates while aiming to fine-tune his form for a debut appearance at the Tour de France.
“I will do the Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice, Tour de Catalunya, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Tour de Suisse, and the Tour de France. It’s a lot of racing,” he admits.
“I prefer race days to see how I am because I am that kind of cyclist who, when I’m racing, I’m just different. I can’t perform at the same level in training; when I’m racing, I can reach another level.”
