Joao Almeida finishes the Tour de France with a sense of accomplishment: "It's very special to be part of this victory, I'm very happy that we did it"
Cycling
The 111th edition of the Tour de France has come to an end and with it João Almeida's debut in the world's biggest cycling race. After several top five finishes at Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, the Portuguese rider finally added a Grand Boucle top 5 to his collection.
The final 33km time trial from Monaco to Nice was somewhat favourable to the Portuguese rider in his fight for 4th place with Mikel Landa and in the end the UAE Team Emirates rider didn't leave any doubts about who's better in the battle of domestiques, as he got the better of the Soudal - Quick-Step rider, putting him 21 seconds further back in the overall after the day.
João Almeida praised the team's collective work towards the team's main goal: Tadej Pogacar regaining the yellow jersey
In the Eurosport flash interview after the stage, when asked to say a few words about Tadej Pogacar's six wins in the race, Almeida said: "He told me he was going to give everything, so I imagine he went all out. This is crazy. Congratulations to him and congratulations to the team we did a perfect job and we can be proud of what we did."
It was Almeida's debut at the Tour and he immediately took on an important role within the team, as he, along with Adam Yates, was one of the last men to stand alongside Pogacar in the mountains, on his way to the Giro-Tour double, which hadn't been accomplished since 1998, when Marco Pantani achieved this feat. "It's very special to be part of this victory, I'm very happy that he did it. Today was a superb day."
As the final podium ceremony was about to begin, the reporter joked with Almeida that he was missing the special yellow version of the UAE Team Emirates jersey: "Yes, that's true, but I'm already going to change my jersey," replied Almeida, who was beaming with a huge smile of happiness at having contributed to the achievement of the UAE team's great goal after 21 days of competition: The Throne of the Tour
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Article written by Carlos Silva.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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