João Almeida has signalled his intention to return to the Giro d’Italia in 2023 after his challenge at this year’s race was ended by a COVID-19 diagnosis in the final week.
He later placed 5th overall in his debut Vuelta a España, where he also helped UAE Team Emirates companion Juan Ayuso to a podium finish.
Almeida has lined out at the Giro in each of his three professional seasons to date. As a neophyte with QuickStep in 2020, Almeida wore the maglia rosa for two weeks before finishing fourth overall in Milan. He placed sixth overall the following season, after initially splitting leadership duties with Remco Evenepoel.
In his first season at UAE Team Emirates, Almeida was sole leader at the Giro, where he occupied a place on the podium at the beginning of the third week only to be forced out with COVID-19 ahead of stage 18.
“I want to focus on the Giro again,” Almeida told The National during UAE Team Emirates’ first pre-season gathering in Abu Dhabi.
"We had a pretty good year, but I was expecting a little more in the Giro, but unfortunately I had Covid, but the team doesn’t depend on me alone. Overall, I learned a lot and had some good results.”
Almeida was a consistent performer across his debut campaign with UAE Team Emirates, placing 5th at the UAE Tour, 8th at Paris-Nice, third at the Volta a Catalunya and second at the Vuelta a Burgos.
Tadej Pogačar will again target the Tour de France for UAE Team Emirates in 2023, as he looks to regain the title he lost to Jonas Vingegaard last July. It remains to be seen where Ayuso will be deployed, but the Giro route appears well tailored to Almeida’s characteristics, with some 70km of total time trialling.
Almeida’s former teammate Evenepoel is also expected to participate, though he was yet to confirm his participation, while Geraint Thomas (Ineos) has also intimated that he might be on the start line in Abruzzo on May 6.
