OFFICIAL | João Almeida confirms 2026 Giro d'Italia withdrawal - "Sickness in the past months has affected my preparations too much"

What was reported this Sunday night in the Portuguese media has been confirmed this Monday morning by the man himself. The Giro d'Italia has lost one of its main figures, as João Almeida has been sidelined from the first Grand Tour of the season. The stage-race specialist was meant to lead UAE Team Emirates - XRG at the Corsa Rosa but a lingering virus has deemed him unfit to start the race with high ambitions.

Diário de Notícias reported on this last evening and it depicted reality in the UAE Team Emirates - XRG camp. Almeida was training at altitude in Sierra Nevada in preparation for the Giro, but simply did not have the form that would allow him to go into the race in a competitive mindset. With Jonas Vingegaard and Giulio Pellizzari at the start, the mission would be made even more difficult.

After finishing on the podium of the Volta ao Algarve earlier this year, Almeida had a viral infection which forced him to skip Paris-Nice. This was the first sign of a spring that has been wrecked by his health issues that followed. He returned to racing at the Volta a Catalunya but continued lacking form, whilst he then also crashed. He eventually finished 38th in the overall classification.

The viral infection not only took training days away from him but above all made recovery a much more complicated process. It lingered on throughout the past two months, with the 27-year said to not have improved over time and currently still be suffering from its effects.

"Unfortunately I won’t be at the start of the Giro D’Italia next month as planned. Sickness in the past months has affected my preparations too much and has meant I just won’t quite be ready in time which is a shame as it’s a race I love so much," Almeida wrote in an Instagram post. He confirmed the news which changes the complete outlook of his season.

"After talking it through with the team we decided it was best to take a rest period and switch focus to new goals later in the season," he confirms. The Giro lineup will likely be led by Adam Yates; whilst other riders should get freedom to chase their own results. With the change being last-minute, it is unlikely that either Tadej Pogacar or Isaac del Toro will step in to fill the gap.

This could also see Almeida race the Tour de France this summer, although that is to be determined later on. "We haven’t set out those new goals yet but that will be done calmly in the next few weeks… For now it’s time to first rest-up a bit and build things back up slowly. Best of luck to the guys for the Giro, will be cheering from home " he concluded.