OFFICIAL | No Tour de France for João Almeida; Giro-Vuelta on the schedule and 2026 calendar revealed
CyclingSaturday, 13 December 2025 at 15:02
The 2026 season is soon to start and the Grand Tour startlists begin to take further form. João Almeida is returning to the Giro d'Italia in 2026 and will not be racing the Tour de France alongside Tadej Pogacar.
The Portuguese rider was the first to take the stage during UAE Team Emirates - XRG's media day in Benidorm, and was quickly asked about his schedule for the upcoming season. The answer was short and direct, revealing the full plan for his 2026 season.
Almeida will begin his season at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana, where the team is currently training ahead of the season. He is returning to his home country in late February to race the Volta ao Algarve, where he was close to winning the overall classification this year - only beaten by Jonas Vingegaard. This also happened at the Vuelta a España, where he is going to be present as well.
The climber is going to have a heavy schedule once again, racing Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya in March before taking the month of April off of racing in order to prepare for the Giro d'Italia. The news come as a surprise, as it was widely expected that Isaac del Toro would have the leadership at the upcoming Corsa Rosa.
Almeida will then skip the Tour de France. He will race the national championships and then the Vuelta a Burgos before the Vuelta a Espãna where he will once again pursuit a Grand Tour victory.
More will be known shortly about the schedules of Isaac del Toro and Tadej Pogacar, who might end up teaming up often in 2026. Almeida has previously finished on the podium of the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España, and could replicate these. At the Giro, he is likely to face Jonas Vingegaard, as well as the likes of Felix Gall, Enric Mas and Jai Hindley who have confirmed their intentions already.
claps 7visitors 5
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He's definitely not a team playerVeganpotter23-01-2026
- Send Roglic to Tour De Suisse ffs. He’s so close to getting a unique reford, I don’t know why he’s not going for it.antipodeanpedalfan23-01-2026
- The distinction one could draw is, Hincapie did not deny his doping; he admitted it prior to even being publicly accused. And, unlike his more famous friend, he did not defend a supposed innocence or behave aggressively against others, nor detrimentally steamroll them in the course of self-defense. No, he copped to it for a deal, served the time, and slowly returned to a public presence. It may not be possible to be a fan of a pro cycling doper profiting from breaking the rules, but as with anything or any personality of which people choose to be fans, we also choose which things to stand firm against or to forgive. For a person re-entering their chosen field after doing the work of accepting punishment and rebuilding a public-facing team in a hopefully honorable way, well, this can be accepted. From there, you can forgive yourself for accepting them and add overtly positive comments instead of harsh judgment-based criticisms, which feel better for the self and others.itsent23-01-2026
- I don't see a problem with this plan. Obviously, you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket!!PogiFan2Day22-01-2026
- It's not Le Tour but Volta a Catalunya. I'm excited to see how they perform against the best in business!!PogiFan2Day22-01-2026
- In this case he’s obviously going to get press. Why the wildcard, well, let the rumour mill start. Politics, money, fear, marketing?Jumpyjohn22-01-2026
- Not disagreeing but no matter how fast a bike is, it won’t be for every rider. You need a bike that suits your type, at that level, you shouldn’t have to adapt to a bike, but that’s cycling and sponsorship for you. F1 is probably more flexibleJumpyjohn22-01-2026
- Dude is just 22. Most people dont succeed till 25-27 years as development is slow.abstractengineer22-01-2026
- Hincapie doped his way into cycling stardom. Why this guy gets any press is incredible.
ScottG22-01-2026 - Primoz might have been a good superdomestique to support those two in the fight for 3rd place, but not sure he's a team player. Let's hope he can at least stay on his bike this year and avoid getting hurt.Crashjames22-01-2026
Loading
Write a comment