'I Wouldn't Be Ready' — Almeida Rules Himself Out Of Pogacar's Tour de France Squad
Tadej Pogacar looks set to begin his bid for a record-equalling fifth Tour de France without the rider who has been his most trusted mountain lieutenant of the past two seasons. Joao Almeida has made it plain that he does not believe he is ready to take on the demands of the Tour, with the Portuguese instead targeting a return to his best in time for the Vuelta a Espana later in the summer.
"Personally, I feel I wouldn't be ready to do a Tour de France," Almeida said. "There are many rough edges to smooth out to be at the level of a Tour; it's a very demanding race. Regardless of whether you're going to achieve a result or to work hard, you have to be in your best shape, because otherwise it's not possible to achieve much."
The admission is the latest chapter in a wretched run for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG climber. After a subdued showing at the Volta a Catalunya in late March, Almeida underwent a series of blood tests and was diagnosed with the effects of a virus. He was forced to skip the Giro d'Italia, a race he had been lined up to lead, and spent roughly nine weeks away from competition trying to rebuild. His comeback at the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes was sobering: he finished last in the gruppetto on the opening stage and struggled again the following day.
"It's been ups and downs for me," he reflected on that return. "I kept training for a while but things were not really going well. I stopped, then three or four weeks ago I started training again and here I am. Now I'm feeling good, that's the most important thing. Hopefully I'll be at my level in the next month or two."
Almeida's absence reshapes the support Pogacar can call upon in July. The role of climbing deputy now falls squarely to Isaac del Toro, the 22-year-old Mexican who has already confirmed he will ride alongside the Slovenian at the Tour. UAE have still to formally announce their eight-rider roster, with Pavel Sivakov, Nils Politt, Tim Wellens, Florian Vermeersch, Brandon McNulty and Felix Grossschartner all on a lengthy long-list. The team are also waiting on the recovery of Adam Yates, Jay Vine and Marc Soler, who each crashed out of the Giro on stage 2.
For Almeida himself, the focus shifts to a back end of the season built around rediscovering form. He sketched out a calendar taking in the Clasica San Sebastian, the Vuelta a Burgos, the Vuelta a Espana — where he finished runner-up last year — and the Road World Championships in Canada. Before any of that, the immediate test is this week's Tour de Suisse, where Almeida lines up as the only man to have won the race three years running and begins the long road back to the top.