Tadej Pogacar absolute leader for UAE Team Emirates, João Almeida confirms: "We haven't even talked about a Plan B"

João Almeida has recently ridden to a brilliant second place at the Tour de Suisse only behind his own teammate Adam Yates where both shown terrific form into the Tour de France; but within UAE Team Emirates, despite this, there seems to be consensus that the team is going to protect Tadej Pogacar as it's sole leader.

"I felt great there and we achieved promising results, but on the other hand it was annoying that I fell ill on the last day. However, I think it will be fine before the start of the Tour, it was just a cold. That shouldn't make too much difference," Almeida said in words to A Bola.

"With Tadej as leader it is a bit different from the big tours I have done before. I hope to ride a good race, to be at the front and, just like in the Volta a Catalunya, to be able to do some damage. And a good finish in the classification is also not out of the question, I would say. But that depends on so many factors."

What was initially a quartet of leaders has slowly turned into one, as Pogacar showed brilliant form all season long and enters the Tour full of confidence. Almeida admits a secondary role, Juan Ayuso is in the same position after crashing out of the Criterium du Dauphiné; whilst Adam Yates should be no different than the young duo of climbers. However this does not mean neither of them can aim for the overall classification simultaneously, as Yates - third at last year's Tour - proved quite well.

"We haven't even talked about a Plan B, so there is no such thing. Our leader is Pogacar and the goal is clear: to win the Tour with him," Almeida states clearly. "We have defined our strategy well for that, where we only rely on our own strength. We have been working on that plan since December and we have a very strong team that can always make the difference for Tadej."