There is more than one double act at this Giro d'Italia. The anticipated duel between Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič has dominated the countdown to the Grande Partenza, but the dual leaders at UAE Team Emirates could yet insert themselves into the conversation between here and Rome.
João Almeida is already a youthful veteran of the Giro, placing fourth overall as a neo-professional in 2020 when he also carried the maglia rosa for more than two weeks. Jay Vine, three years his senior, is far less versed in the ways of the Grand Tours, but then the Australian is only beginning to tap the potential that belatedly carried him to the WorldTour.
Vine and Almeida have yet to race together, and it remains to be seen how readily they will dovetail out on the road, but off the bike, they already seem to complement one another just fine. Almeida is generally a man of few, though unfailingly polite, words, while Vine is among the peloton's best raconteurs.
In UAE's pre-race press conference on Friday afternoon, Almeida seemed glad to have his more expansive teammate for company. "I just agree with what Jay said," he smiled after the Australian had taken the lead when they were both asked for an assessment of Saturday's opening time trial.
They were on the same page, too, when it came to assessing their prospects of upsetting the expected duopoly over the next three weeks. Almeida placed third overall behind Roglič and Evenepoel at the Volta a Catalunya in March. He saw enough there to appreciate that their status as favourites for the Giro d'Italia was entirely merited, yet he does not set out defeated.
"I mean, I think Remco and Roglič are for sure the favourite ones. They have shown they are the very strongest guys," Almeida began. "But the Giro race is long, and anything can happen. I'm aiming for the podium, but let's keep the flow and see how things go."
Vine picked up the thread, noting an encouraging historical precedent. The last time Roglič raced the Giro, in 2019, his duel with Vincenzo Nibali was bypassed by eventual winner Richard Carapaz, who had formed part of an underrated Movistar tandem with Mikel Landa.
"We saw a non-favourite in Carapaz win the Giro a few years ago," Vine said. "He was in the same situation. I mean, strange things can happen in the Giro d'Italia…"
Leaders
Subscribe to Cyclingnews for our full Giro d'Italia coverage
At the Giro, familiar tropes come to repeat themselves again and again across the generations. In the sala stampa, one can't help but reach for them. From Coppi and Bartali to Roche and Visentini, from Pantani and Chiappucci to Simoni and Cunego, debates over the merits of joint leaders form part of the ambient noise at this race. On Friday, Vine dutifully insisted that he and Almeida could co-exist as leaders of the UAE team.
"I think we'll approach it the way the team's done a lot of races, keeping us two really close on time for as long as we can, then playing our cards on the stages that suit us individually," Vine said. "We've got a slightly different style, so we can play off each other in that sense. It's about being smart, and the team knows how to manage both interests equally."
Vine arrives at this Giro without any racing in his legs since he was forced out of the UAE Tour with a knee injury in late February, but he expressed satisfaction at how his preparation had played out since he returned to full training in late March. Indeed, he turned down the chance to ride the Tour de Romandie, such was his trust in his training programme.
"I think I've been able to get really good training done, and we did a lot of work on the time trial as well after the injury was sorted and rehabilitated," Vine said. "I sorted the TT position in the wind tunnel and my equipment choices are dialled. We had a good three-week training block in Sierra Nevada, everything was tracking smoothly there as well, so I'm really excited to get the three weeks underway."
Vine won the Australian time trial title and the Tour Down Under on joining UAE from Alpecin-Deceuninck last winter, and the switch to the new team also saw him upgrade his Grand Tour ambitions. After targeting – and winning – mountain stages at last year's Vuelta a España, he now has designs on the general classification for the first time.
"It's my first time doing a GC in a Grand Tour, and aside from the Tour Down Under, I haven't even done GC in a WorldTour race before," Vine said. "It's a massive experience because it's my first Giro as well, but my goal is to see what I can do in GC."
Saturday's 19.6km time trial to Ortona might provide the first indications as to the internal hierarchy at UAE Team Emirates, though it's worth noting that they also have a third strongman in their ranks.
Brandon McNulty, author of a stirring cameo at last year's Tour de France on behalf of Tadej Pogacar, was an unexpected inclusion when UAE's Giro team was unveiled last week, even if the American's precise role here is not entirely clear. "I don't know, you should ask him. Maybe his words are better," Almeida said when he was asked.
Vine was more forthcoming about the presence of McNulty, a rider with obvious potential to figure on GC at the end of the opening week. "All I know is he's just come back from a really good training camp in Girona working in the heat. He's pretty motivated as well," Vine said. "That guy's an animal on the TT bike, so you'd definitely expect him to be up there on those stages."
The Giro, however, is all about the long road, as Almeida knows from his own experiences, both joyful and sorrowful, in the final week over the years. The Portuguese rider will hope his powers of endurance can carry him to the podium here. He warned that nothing will be set in stone until the final time trial up Monte Lussari – assuming, of course, it goes ahead as planned.
"There could still be changes to the route, but if it happens, for sure it will make a massive difference," Almeida said. "There's more than 3,400km in the Giro, but those final kilometres could make more of a difference than all the others. For sure it will be a massive stage: bring it on."
