UAE Team Emirates - XRG ready to go all-in for Joao Almeida's third WorldTour GC victory in a row
Cycling
A bit overshadowed by the star-filled Criterium du Dauphiné, the Tour de Suisse will take off this Sunday with one big favourite to dominate on the Swiss roads. Joao Almeida will finalize his preparation for the 2025 Tour de France while looking for his third consecutive WorldTour GC victory.
Right now, few cyclists are at Almeida's level. The UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider won Itzulia Basque Country and Tour de Romandie, and will be Tadej Pogacar's key man in the high mountains of Tour de France. Whereas in France, his hands will be tied, the Portuguese man will get his moment of glory at the Tour de Suisse.
Before the Swiss race, where he starts as the main favorite, Joao Almeida "threatens" all his rivals:
"It's been a pretty good season for me so far this year, and I want to continue on that path as we approach the Tour de France. Training has been going well. We just got back from altitude with most of the Tour team and now it's time to test the legs," he begins in a pre-race press release.
"It's no secret that I really like the Tour de Suisse. After what we did here last year, we'll come back with the goal of defending the title. It's never easy, but we'll try," he added. In 2024, the UAE duo Adam Yates - Joao Almeida took charge of the whole race, winning two mountain stages each as they cruised to a 1-2 in the final classification.
Joao Almeida on the final podium after stage 8 of Tour de Suisse
The same feat would be an ambitious goal this year, considering the parcours and the selection of UAE, however it's indeed a strong team that will accompany the Portuguese rider over the course of next eight days in Switzerland.
UAE line-up for the Tour de Suisse
- Joao Almeida
- Antonio Morgado
- Jan Christen
- Mikkel Bjerg
- Felix Grossschartner
- Julius Johansen
- Vegard Stake Laengen
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
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