João Almeida enters huge season: "I'm asking for a few wins and a season without bad luck"
Cycling
João Almeida has told us in Spain two weeks ago that not only would he aim for the Tour de France and Vuelta a España in 2025, but also a whole heap of stage-races including the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana, Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice, Itzulia Basque Country, Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse. The Portuguese rider hopes, above all, that he won't fall victim to injuries and illnesses.
It is already known that João Almeida will be alongside his UAE Team Emirates leader, Tadej Pogacar, at the Tour de France and will be at the start of La Vuelta where for the time being it is not known in which role exactly. The Portuguese rider had a very strong summer including two stage wins and second in GC at the Tour de Suisse behind teammate Adam Yates, and a fourth place at the Tour de France.
He is modest with his words ahead of 2025 where he should have over 80 race days if his plan doesn't suffer setbacks. "In personal terms, I wish everyone a lot of health, it's essential and with it we can do anything," he told Record. "As for my career, I'd like to see some good victories, a season without any bad luck or mishaps and once again a lot of health".
The spring will be packed with plenty races and will present many opportunities for the Portuguese rider to succeed and win more races. Although the 26-year old is among the very best stage-racers in the peloton and part of the team that wins the most by far, he only has four wins to his name over the past two seasons.
But this could change once January comes along, where he will battle against the likes of Ben O'Connor, Pello Bilbao and Aleksandr Vlasov. "The aim is to start standing out in the first races of the year, then we'll see," he concluded.
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- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
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- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
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