PRESS CONFERENCE João Almeida | Personal ambitions cast aside to support Pogacar: "We are here to win the Tour"

João Almeida is starting another Tour de France and after having won three of the main seven stage-races of the World Tour, it is impossible to say expectations aren't high. CyclingUpToDate was present at the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider's press conference to hear his thoughts ahead of a very important Grand Boucle where he will be Tadej Pogacar's most important mountain domestique.

Last year Almeida finished the Tour in fourth place despite his role, and he enters this year's edition in a similar position after having won Itzulia Basque Country, the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse. The very consistent climber will, together with Adam Yates, Pavel Sivakov and Marc Soler, be in charge of protecting the world champion against a very strong Team Visma | Lease a Bike.

Answer: My legs are already good, everything is fine. Motivation is high, I think we are in good shape. And we have everything we need to do well. Obviously, it is always a very tense and nervous start. And we have to be alert and well positioned.

Answer: Yes, I think it is a bit relative. I come here with the goal of supporting Tadej. I am not coming as a leader, so any result is always secondary. Obviously, if I have this luck and this opportunity to be able to do that, I will definitely give it my all. But the goal here is to help Tadej as much as I can. And we are here to win the Tour.

Answer: Yes, but I think that in the end these are very difficult stages. It will always be the legs that speak louder. I think both teams, like us and Visma, are the main rivals. We have very strong teams, almost equal. So, I think we are somewhat on the same pace. And I think the legs will speak louder. Obviously, tactically, there are always several things that can be played, it's also relative. Often, in race situations, it depends on the play on that day, at that moment, whether there are athletes further behind or not. So, we always have to be prepared for everything and for the opponents not to surprise us.

Answer: Yes, I'm in good physical shape. I don't think there's anything stopping me from doing that. I hope nothing bad happens, but if something goes wrong, something doesn't work out, we're always ready to give our best. But we also have to be realistic, Tadej is at a higher level. The opponents are also very strong. I think it would change the race dynamics a lot, but we have our best there.

Answer: We're still going to have a meeting later today to talk more specifically about everything. We don't know the specifics yet, but I think that starting from being Tadej's last man there are always bad days. If my teammates feel better and are stronger, they can do a better job and stay closer to the end. But from being the last man standing and having the right race situation for that to happen, maybe being a bait, I think in my opinion it would be good to take advantage of it. And that would be a win-win for everyone. So it's all about the race situation.

Answer: Yes, actually, I don't get sick very often, but whenever I do, it's always in a bad moment, always in the races. I don't think there's anything good about getting sick, but hey, it's always tough mentally. And when we overcome obstacles, as they say, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger and it goes a little bit by. But we end up overcoming it and becoming stronger. But personally I think that when I get sick it takes me down a lot physically and I'm always getting back in shape, but that's part of cycling too. I think for 2020 and 2021, I think the difference is that I'm more mature, more experienced, also over the years I've become unaware of how our body works, what works for us, what doesn't. And it's all a struggle to give our best and try to evolve as much as possible, but mainly more experience and more years of this, as they say.

Answer: Yes, it has been a very good year, a better year for this professional with more races and a very good one. Yes, I believe it can go up. It is a possibility. I also think that all the riders in the world rankings will be here at the Tour. So, I think the best riders who are well-placed here will probably go up in the rankings. But then, I am not going to fight for the rankings exactly, it is a secondary thing and it is a good indicator, but I believe it can go up.

Answer: Yes, I have said it many times, it is an honor to be part of the Tour team and to be the last man. We are talking not only about the best cyclists of today, but perhaps of all time. And finally, being part of this story, for me personally, gives me extra motivation. And that's it, it's an honor to be part of this team.

Answer: Yes, I think it's possible. The Tour always brings us surprises. I don't think it's possible, but I think Vingegaard is a superior mountain rider. There's only one flat time-trial, and Remco clearly has that advantage. But I would say that Vingegaard is a superior mountain rider, at least outside of this Tour. And I, if I could bet on one to come second, I would bet on Vingegaard.

Answer: I would like to, but talking is easy, doing is another thing.

Answer: Overall it's not about results, it's about helping Tadej as much as I can, so to speak, destroying the rest of the remaining group when I start pushing, doing the hard race on the climbs and I don't have any objective of having to make the podium or anything like that, because that's always secondary, considering this work. I'm going to give my best, of course, but it's all relative in relation to the opponents, I'm confident. So I'm not starting out with the objective of having to make the podium. So, clearly, I think I'll always give my best and follow my instinct, but we have a bigger objective here, which is to win the Tour de France.

Answer: No, I wanted to start a little earlier than usual. I started at the Volta a Valenciana, which is a race that suited me very well. A good test right at the beginning of the season. It went quite well. But the goal was, well, to seek more opportunities to win races. Well, basically that was to seek opportunities and results at the beginning of the season. And we managed to do it. We had a relatively full calendar, but well balanced and we managed to achieve the goals that almost all of us had, which were to win almost all the next races. And that's it, I think that was a good part of the first season.