"Very excited to start the season... I hope to aim for a big result" - João Almeida leads UAE Team Emirates - XRG at Volta a Comunitat Valenciana 2025

The 2025 road season is underway across the world and with every race that passes, another big-name rider gets their campaign underway. Leading UAE Team Emirates - XRG at the upcoming Volta a Comunitat Valenciana (5-9 February), is the Portuguese GC hopeful, João Almeida. 

“I’m very excited to start the season. It has been a good winter and I feel like the condition is good and where it needs to be," the former GC winner at the Tour de Pologne and the Tour de Luxembourg says in a press release on the UAE Team Emirates - XRG official website. "It’s not so often we get to start with a team time-trial but with the strength of the team we have I think we can be confident to put in a good performance."

As is often the case with the all-star UAE Team Emirates - XRG, Almeida leads a multi-faceted lineup and as such, won't be their one and only hope of success in Spain. "We’ll have several cards to play, for sure I hope to aim for a big result," the Portuguese says determinedly though. "Brandon McNulty won this race last year and seems to always fly at this time of year so it’s good to have options for the GC. The most important will be the search for victories as a collective.”

"We started the year with many victories which we are obviously very pleased with, but also the attitude and attacking mentality the team has showed in the first races has been fantastic and something we are proud of," adds Sports Manager Joxean Matxin. "We won here last year with Brandon McNulty and we will aim to defend that title this year."

"We have the unusual prospect of the TTT to open the race and we have selected a team very focussed on that stage. No doubt our rivals will be preparing for it also, so we need to be on our best level which I’m confident we will be," Matxin concludes. "The Valencia region has had a devastating few months and I know a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to make this race happen and we hope we can put on a good show for the people there.”

Joao Almeida
Brandon McNulty
Filippo Baroncini
Felix Grossschartner 
Julius Johansen
Ivo Oliveira 
Pavel Sivakov