OFFICIAL | No Tour de France for João Almeida; Giro-Vuelta on the schedule and 2026 calendar revealed
Cycling
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.
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Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- You despise him because he calls out the truth....OK clown !frieders303-11-2026
- JV is really slighting himself with not doing the 1 dayers.. 🤷
leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin in this list is quite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
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