"Almeida is better than Remco Evenepoel" - Portuguese expert believes UAE man has the edge on Evenepoel

At 59, Manuel Correia has earned the nickname “the Mourinho of cycling,” and not without reason. As sports director of Gi Group Holding - Simoldes - UDO, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the careers of many of Portugal’s top riders. Four of the current seven Portuguese cyclists in the World Tour, Rui Costa, Ruben Guerreiro, and twins Ivo and Rui Oliveira, began under his guidance. His influence has reached even further, with riders like Zé and Domingos Gonçalves, André Cardoso, Ricardo Vilela, and André Carvalho passing through his ranks.

“There are more of us who were out there. The brothers Zé and Domingos Gonçalves, André Cardoso, Ricardo Vilela and André Carvalho. I must be forgetting a few…” Correia says, before clarifying that João Almeida is a special case. “I didn't actually sign with João. We had an agreement. If he continued racing in Portugal, it would be with our team, which at the time was Liberty Seguros-Carglass. But he already had the legitimate expectation of leaving. Then came the invitation from Hagens Axeon and we were happy to let him go. It was 2018 and he was 19.”

Correia never doubted Almeida’s potential. “I'm keeping an eye on him, but in his case I didn't even need to. With João Almeida, the difference was so big that we all knew there was someone special out there.”

Correia’s reputation comes not just from the riders he’s developed, but from his philosophy. “My main characteristic has always been my closeness to the players, which there are no experts here. If we had the budget for it, and in those years we did, even to make a good international calendar for the Under-23s, we gave them the tools to develop and we didn't even need to recruit the best. Many wanted to join that team, we had to reject runners. But a lot of people didn't value that project, which raced against French and Dutch teams and got results. Today I can say that's what I'm most proud of in my career.”

That Under-23 team, Liberty Seguros-Carglass (later replaced by Oliveirense) was widely regarded as the best in Portuguese cycling history at that level. It provided young riders with an international racing calendar, essential for breaking into the global scene.

Correia insists his work has never been about personal recognition. “I do this out of passion, because I love cycling, never for my own benefit or to be in the limelight, which my way of being doesn't allow. I'm reserved. In fact, it's time to give the lead to Luís Pinheiro, who has been my right-hand man and very soon he should be running the team. He's a very valid person and it was he who challenged me to launch this project.”

While his eye for talent is well known, Correia hints at another reason riders, and their families, trust his team: a strict commitment to clean racing. “This has been a requirement since the days of Liberty Seguros, who also wanted to change the paradigm when they sponsored us. It's always been a struggle of mine, to the point of putting it in the contracts. If one day I have a problem, they can withdraw my sponsorship. I hope the roof doesn't fall in on me one day... What I can guarantee is that for the team, for my structure, you never go down a bad path.”

In a sport with a long history of doping scandals, such a guarantee carries weight. It makes Oliveirense not just a development team, but a trusted environment for athletes at the start of their careers.

Correia’s memories of Almeida’s junior years remain vivid. “João Almeida was always a serious case. He won the Junior Tour of Portugal with all the stages, or leaving one for a colleague (Daniel Viegas ed.)... He made such a big difference that I've never seen the like.” From those early days, Almeida’s potential was obvious, culminating in a Liège-Bastogne-Liège Under-23 victory before he joined Quick-Step.

“He was never a classics racer. When he wore the pink in his first Giro, he said on RTP that I wasn't surprised.” That debut Giro d’Italia in 2020 put Almeida in the global spotlight, with the Portuguese rider wearing the leader’s jersey for more than two weeks.

Correia believes Almeida’s 2025 season could have been even bigger. “This year he was unlucky in the Tour, otherwise he would have been on the podium, even working for Pogacar. But behind the other two, because Vingegaard is also a few points up. To win a Grand Tour, you have to race it without Pogacar and Vingegaard, who are two phenoms. I could say three, but in my humble opinion, João is already better than Remco Evenepoel in three-week races.”