'Almeida has no interest in leaving UAE-Emirates' - No chance for Astana to sign Portuguese star
Cycling
With just over two months left for the transfers period to officially open, many teams, riders and agents are tough at work securing their futures. One interesting possibility launched this week was that of João Almeida possibly joining Astana Qazaqstan Team; but this has virtually no chance of happening according to a new report.
The Portuguese rider holds a contract until 2026 with UAE Team Emirates. Alongside the likes of Tadej Pogacar, Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates, he will be racing (for the first time) at the Tour de France this summer. The team does however have a big amount of leaders and even more such as Isaac del Toro already in development, which could eventually lead to freedom problems in the Grand Tours for Almeida.
Hence, there was a small possibility of there being a reason to believe the intentions of Alexandre Vinokourov and Astana to try and make a bid to bring him in for the 2025 season. "I don’t know if he’s on the market but there might be a solution. We will see," the manager of the Kazakh team said of Almeida.
Following the breaking of contract of Cian Uijtdebroeks this winter, alongside a few others in recent years - mainly from DSM riders - it wouldn't be impossible to consider this a possibility, specially taking into account that Astana will have available budget to make a big offer, but also as the team is financed by a coalition of state-owned companies in Kazakhstan who could receive a special financial boost specifically for such a transfer.
But this will not happen, with certainty, according to TopCycling.pt's Gonçalo Moreira. "TopCycling sources can confirm that Almeida has no interest in leaving UAE-Emirates. Almeida to Astana is a no-go situation," he wrote.
Hence the Kazakh team loses one of it's possible new leaders into 2025. Simon Yates remains a possibility, but the team may also try and negotiation with other out-of-contract climbers such as Ben O'Connor, Thymen Arensman, Nairo Quintana or Romain Bardet... Former team riders such as Aleksandr Vlasov and Ion Izagirre are also on the market currently.
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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According to Vinokourov, quoted by GCN, João Almeida might be on Astana's radar. @topcycling_pt sources can confirm that Almeida has no interest in leaving UAE-Emirates. Almeida to Astana is a no-go situation.
Li no GCN (obg @SanokuzyWars) que Vinokourov mencionou João Almeida falando de reforços. “Why not, Simon Yates. João Almeida, I don’t know if he’s on the market but there might be a solution. We will see." João não tem interesse em mudar de equipa. Notícia @topcycling_pt.
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