João Almeida awarded best teammate prize for first week of 2025 Tour de France

He might have been forced to abandon the 2025 Tour de France, but João Almeida hasn't left the Grand Tour completely empty-handed. Tadej Pogacar's right-hand man at UAE Team Emirates - XRG has been awarded the best teammate prize for the first week by a group of esteemed French journalists.

The Portuguese star, who sadly left the race on stage 9 as a result of his lingering injuries from an earlier crash, had played a key role for Pogacar over the course of the stages prior, helping his teammate's quest for a fourth Maillot Jaune victory.

Especially on stage 4 Almeida was important to his team leader, closing down potentially threatening moves, controlling the front of the race almost single-handedly and then setting up Pogacar for the stage win.

And now, Almeida's performance has been rewarded by this new, best teammate prize, a new award for this year's Tour de France, introduced by the ASO to pay tribute to some of the more unsung heroes of the race. Voted for by a panel of esteemed French journalists, on each rest day, this is the first of such awards set to be handed out at the 2025 edition of the Tour de France.