“There’s not a big difference with Jonas Vingegaard” – João Almeida hunts Giro d'Italia glory inspired by Tadej Pogacar & Cristiano Ronaldo
Cycling
João Almeida is not talking like a rider making up numbers. When he looks back at La Vuelta a Espana 2025 and forward to the 2026 Giro d'Italia, the message is clear. He believes the gap to the very top is small, manageable, and shrinking.
At the Vuelta last season, Almeida finished second overall behind Jonas Vingegaard, exactly 1 minute 16 seconds down after three weeks of racing. That result now frames how he sees his own future. The Portuguese rider is not discouraged by finishing runner-up. He sees it as proof that winning a Grand Tour is realistic.
“The objective at the Giro will be to win it, and I will do everything I can to make it a reality,” Almeida said in conversation with Gazzetta dello Sport. Reflecting on his duel with Vingegaard in Spain, he added: “At the Vuelta, a few months ago, there was not a big difference with Vingegaard. He was coming from the Tour and probably was not at his best… But neither was I.”
Those words are not bravado. They are grounded in experience. Almeida has now stood on the podium of multiple Grand Tours and has spent long stretches in leader’s jerseys. But it was the 2020 Giro d'Italia that first convinced him he belonged at the very top. “Yes, it was a decisive experience for me,” he said of that race. “I was young, I had a lot to learn, and those three weeks were a wonderful journey of growth.”
The Vingegaard benchmark
Vingegaard is now the measuring stick. At La Vuelta 2025, their rivalry became a genuine two-rider contest through much of the race, with Almeida close enough to believe that the final step is no longer out of reach. “Every year I have improved, and I have the feeling that it can happen again in 2026,” Almeida said. “I say that realistically.”
That realism is central to how he talks about winning a Grand Tour. There is no talk of destiny or guarantees. Only of progression, detail, and belief built from evidence. “I know my body very well. I know how to listen to it. I have a clear perception of how far I can go,” he explained when asked about his greatest strength as an athlete.
For Almeida, that self knowledge is what turns a second place into a future plan rather than a ceiling.
Learning from Pogacar
Inside UAE Team Emirates, Almeida also has daily access to what the very highest level looks like. Tadej Pogacar, his teammate, is not just a rival in races but a reference point in training, recovery, and mentality. “First of all, simply because of… genetics, he is the best of all,” Almeida said of Pogacar. “To that, he adds the fact that he works very hard.”
The difference between them, in Almeida’s eyes, is not talent but total immersion. “I do not think I have an obsession with cycling, in the sense that it is not 100 per cent of my life,” he said. “Tadej has that, for him it is. He remains a normal guy, but it is as if he breathes cycling, which is his only true passion.”
Inspired by Ronaldo
That mindset does not come only from cycling. One of Almeida’s biggest inspirations comes from another Portuguese icon. “Because he came from nothing, he worked incredibly hard to make it,” Almeida said of Cristiano Ronaldo. “And he also represents great values. And he can be considered the greatest footballer of all time.”
For Almeida, Ronaldo represents what long-term belief and relentless work can produce. “He will always be number one for me,” he said. “I have never met him so far, I hope that sooner or later it will happen.”
That combination of internal reference points, Pogacar inside his team, Ronaldo from his own country, shapes how Almeida sees his own path.
Built on quiet obsession
Almeida’s relationship with cycling has always been intense, even if he does not call it an obsession. “I have always been sporty, since I was little,” he said. “I tried football, swimming, but ever since I can remember… I was riding my bike. Every day.”
As a teenager, that meant training late into the evening, even when conditions were far from ideal. “It happened, and quite often,” he said when asked about riding in the dark. “I finished at 7.30pm, ate something quickly, and then went riding until 9.30–10pm.”
Sometimes, even the lights failed. “Sometimes it happened that the light did not work and I came home without it. Dangerous, yes, but that is what happened to me.”
That persistence is still visible in how he talks about his future. There is no drama in his ambition. Just a steady insistence that the final step is there to be taken. After finishing just 1 minute 16 seconds behind Jonas Vingegaard at La Vuelta 2025, Almeida no longer talks like a rider chasing a miracle. He talks like someone who has seen the gap clearly and believes it is small enough to close.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Contract year means you gotta win, at least collect UCI points, helping be damnedabstractengineer13-11-2026
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- I'm not trying to argue with you but if you didn't see Del Toro struggling in the Tour I'll pay for some glasses for you lol. He struggled so much that Tadej missed winning stage 15, Tadej also dropped the pace along some stages to help Del Toro hold onto the podium. Now he may have been sick, that is a possibility, but he definitely struggled. You have a nice weekend as well brother.awp13-11-2026
- Im not copmaring him to jonas palmares...but current level of power and again like you even pointed out 19sec difference and on other ocassions del toro dropping him. Its evidently their close and based on both their different trajectory its self explanatory...where we are next year.And Del Toro didnt struggle if getting a podium in his first TDF at 22 year old is struggling you sure dont know how to be objective haha. But have a good weekend this is so dumb to discuss as its not even a discussin in reality as facts speak for themselves of what were actually speaking of - and self explanatory.miguel13-11-2026
- fingers crossed. my son has a poster of wout and mathieu battling each other at the beach at ostend up in his room. would be great to see them again there!Ketterechts13-11-2026
- This Giro is very strange in it's circular route. If you were to have stage starting in Trieste and ending atop Monte Zoncolan (end stage 20) you'd get a stage only 145 km long
Rafionain-Glas13-11-2026 - When Thomas gets the bullet from INEOS he can get a job as a comedian.
Senna196013-11-2026 - Right on. The more the merrier.Occam13-11-2026
- Remember, Del Toro struggled in this Tour. He is great, no doubt about that, but comparing him to a four time gt winner is absurd at this point. He has the potential. We'll have to see how he develops.awp13-11-2026
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