OPINION | Will UAE Team Emirates - XRG live to regret this controversial Giro d'Italia decision?
CyclingMonday, 05 May 2025 at 11:30
We are entering the week of Giro d'Italia 2025! The race will begin this Friday, May 9, and with it the 2025 grand tour season, and it will do so with an edition that is expected to be very exciting. With no Pogacar, Vingegaard or Evenepoel in the star line-up, the fight for the maglia rosa will be very close.
The main candidate for victory is the 2023 winner, Primoz Roglic. But the Slovenian will not have it all his own way, due to the long list of candidates for the general classification. Above all, it seems that the toughest will be Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates, co-leaders of the UAE Team Emirates XRG lineup for the race.
However, the latter has sparked controversy, largely due to João Almeida's form. Have UAE made a mistake in leaving the Portuguese out of a race that, historically, he has always been so good at?
One gets the feeling that the Emirati team may already be regretting the decision they have made. With Almeida, the overall victory in the Giro d'Italia would have been much easier than with Ayuso and Yates. Here are the reasons why.
There is no doubt that Joao Almeida is in the best moment of his career. The Portuguese rider has become one of the peloton's top sprinters. He comes from stringing together two consecutive victories in his last WorldTour stage races: Itzulia Basque Country and Tour de Romandie.
In addition, in his first races of 2025, he was: 2nd in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, 2nd in the Volta ao Algarve and 6th in Paris-Nice, with a stage victory beating Jonas Vingegaard.
To make matters worse, taking a look at his previous results in the Giro d'Italia, when he was not so consolidated, further magnify UAE's mistake. The Portuguese rider has participated 4 times in the Corsa Rosa, with the following results:
- 2020: 4th in the final general classification.
- 2021: 6th in the final general classification.
- 2022: abandonment in stage 18 when he was 4th overall.
- 2023: 3rd in the final general classification.
Other than Ayuso, there is no doubt that Joao Almeida would have been the toughest rival, not counting Pogacar, that UAE could have selected for this Giro d'Italia to beat Primoz Roglic. The worst thing is that they are not even going to take advantage of him for the other grand tours.
At the Tour de France, Almeida will ride as Tadej Pogacar's main supporter in his fight against Jonas Vingegaard and Visma. In the Vuelta a España, the Slovenian is also expected to be in the race. So UAE would end the 2025 season missing the best moment of the Portuguese rider's career to go win a grand tour.
Is it time for Almeida to take his talents elsewhere? Let us know below.
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- and in true form to this site, again a slightly misleading headline. it low key makes it seem AK is pissed, but the reality is he gets it. what a great team player he is. wish he could get one more.mij17-06-2025
- what is the point of this?mij17-06-2025
- You don't have to be a fool to be an ex-pro-turned-commentator, but it seems to help.Renz17-06-2025
- I said, "such as," as in a group—any group—with enough budget to be real, and obviously one with better moral high ground than UCI, who is patently obvious in their pursuit of exacting maximum profit for themselves regardless of how it effects the riders. Sub in any other consortium you like.itsent17-06-2025
- Great role model.
santiagobenites17-06-2025 - Boy, the guy on the left must be pretty good if he can wipe the floor with all but onewithout looking like he’s racing.Mistermaumau17-06-2025
- “Our” writers?Mistermaumau17-06-2025
- Thanks for showing me the way, DadMistermaumau17-06-2025
- Funny how that’s lost on people who feel it’s about who’s right when there is no right or wrong, everyone was free to make their own choices.Mistermaumau17-06-2025
- Geraint Thomas was very surprised at UAE's obnoxiously foul tactics - "Speaking of BRAINFARTS..." he said. And very lethal brainfarts they were - Richie Carapaz got hit right in the face. Look at his expression when Del Toro asked him to ride - he was LIVID. Fortunately, Yatesy dodged the brainfarts... who knows what might have happened otherwise...
Llywelynglyndwr16-06-2025
"become one of the peloton's top sprinters"? -- he's anything but a sprinter, and the admins would obviously know this. So much on this site feels increasingly like it's been written by AI (and then barely reviewed by a human afterwards).
I wonder if they meant "uphill sprinting like Roglic is known for." Probably not, but maybe?
Pogacar in La VUelta? IMHO, no. Tadej is so in love with his Rainbow t-shirt. Most likely, after the Tour, he will rest and prepare very well the World Championship Race, as he does every year, then Almeida will have his opportunity in La Vuelta.
The main UAE goal is the 4th Tour de France, then Almeida has to work with Pogacar preparing the Tour. In addition, UAE has to make concessions to Ayuso. The young man is very talented and ... impatient: he wants big opportunities NOW or maybe he could leave UAE.
What a simplistic analysis.
Nobody knew in advance Almeida would finally have his streak.
Nobody can know if this streak is perhaps also DUE to knowing he’s not on Giro duty.
Nobody knows if with all his efforts so far this year, he’d have enough left for 3 weeks of Giro, - especially now that he’s “become a sprinter” :-)
And finally, after all the success and effort and then trying to win the Giro, how much would he have left to be there for Tadej in the Tour.
Trust me, between letting Almeida win a GT and improving Tadej’s chances of securing another Tour, you can bet UAE have their priorities.
And that’s all without even considering if he’s maybe putting on a good show with the intent of increasing his negociation value come transfer time.
You were doing so well up until the last paragraph :-). So Almeida did not win a single stage race with UAE and now because of contract uplift he can win prestigious races? Come on. The man was being shaped to get to this level and took 2 years. After leaving QS he had lost his punch, he is not a sprinter of course but he had a good kick, he also lost a bit his TT performance, was a disaster going downhill. All this time he was improving his climbing and now he is recovering all the aforementioned qualities he had before.
He is not putting on a show because of contract negotiations, he simply evolved also due to changing trainer.
I think he will do a hat-trick in Tour de Suisse and then go with no pressure to the Tour. Depending on how well Jonas or Remco recover and how tired Roglic is from the Giro, a podium might fall on his lap. Then Vuelta maybe UAE can compensate his performance by making him the solo leader if Pogacar is doubting.
However, where I am really interested to see Almeida is the World Championships. I am hoping the race is split early and then we see Almeida picking up corpses along the Rwanda streets up until he reaches an empty Pogacar and then tips him over the line. Then I wake up and life continues.
If you want good teamwork, don't group Ayuso with Pogacar or Almeida. Ayuso couldn't work well with these 2, especially Almeida.
Ayuso couldn't work well with. Period, ahahaha. All depends on TT stages. If Ayuso take a lot of advantage over Adam, then he will be the leader, no problems inside the team BUT if Ayuso/Yates are tied... a lot of problems can emerge in the group.