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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- Of all the riders only he got bitten. Of course it was the Pogi-Beeabstractengineer04-06-2025
- Given that Carapaz's behavior was in retaliation for del Toro's on the climb, I'd say that he did lose the race entirely on the climb - but the consequences took some time to be clear.RidesHills03-06-2025
- I totally agree that the way UAE lost this Giro was terrible. Maybe Visma at the Vuelta is not the best comparison. (That Vuelta was more as if Pog had unexpectedly started this Giro but been too sick for two weeks to compete with Ayuso or surprise leader Del Toro, then over three stages raced back to almost take the lead)Hill3303-06-2025
- They were only 1:40 behind Yates at the summit and could have chased on teh descent and in the valley regardless of Wout ! He didn't lose the Giro only on the climb.frieders303-06-2025
- Del Toro has said that he was one major push from Carapaz away from giving up and letting go of the wheel. But, at the right moment for del Toro, Carapaz stopped pushing. So, del Toro is in his rights to recognize that he wasn't actually able to chase Yates down - he didn't have the legs. There was that moment when the two were tantalizingly close to Yates, but del Toro trying to close the gap would have given them the opportunity to 1-2 punch him again. It would have worked, given that he was tired, and then Carapaz likely would have won the Giro. Basically, the moment del Toro let either one of them go forward, he was going to lose the Giro. He had no chance, at his strength level. All of it comes down to the fact that he has said that he didn't have the legs.RidesHills03-06-2025
- 100%. The "debacle" of deciding which of your three riders is going to win is much different and way better than the debacle of losing the Giro with a whimper on the last competitive stage.mobk03-06-2025
- The 2023 Vuelta was becoming a PR debacle for Visma, as Jonas followed Roglic on Stage 17 and almost wiped out Kuss's lead, just 8 seconds between Kuss and Jonas. But after listening to the fans they threw their weight behind Kuss and turned it into a PR success.Hill3303-06-2025
- The ball is in motion for Visma, and they will do another sweep of all 3 grand tours this year.
Front24203-06-2025 - NO WAY UAE told anything to Del Toro about Simon Yates. Carapaz was the main focus and I'm confident UAE told Del Toro to stay calm and focus on his main rival only. This was the result.Knickout03-06-2025
- 1- Simon Yates redemption (very emotional). 2- The young, fresh, nice Del Toro in pink. 3- Mads Pedersen wearing/winning the most beautiful t-shirt of the cycling: la maglia ciclamino.
maria2024202403-06-2025
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.