Portuguese star João Almeida likely set for home start in opening races of 2026 season

This weekend brings one of the most keenly awaited moments of the offseason when Tadej Pogačar unveils his full upcoming race program at the UAE Team Emirates-XRG media day, but in the meantime, another top teammate, João Almeida, has revealed what will likely be the first two races on his calendar.

Talking at the Velo d'Or celebration last weekend, where Pogačar received the award as best male rider of 2026, Almeida said he'll most likely be kicking off his season at the Figueira Champions Classic on February 14, followed by the Volta ao Algarve, running from February 18-22.

While both races have an obvious draw for a home rider like Almeida, the 27-year-old has something of a score to settle in the Volta ao Algarve, as he finished second in 2025 after a tough struggle against Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). His runner-up spot was also the first podium finish for a Portuguese rider in the country's highest-ranked stage race in the UCI calendar since João Rodrigues won outright in 2021, and just the second top-three finish for Portugal in the Algarve in a decade.

Almeida then went from strength to strength throughout a landmark 2025. He claimed overall WorldTour victories in Itzulia Basque Country, Tour de Suisse, and the Tour de Romandie, as well as a second place overall - his best result to date in a Grand Tour - in the Vuelta a España and beating Vingegaard into second place on its hardest summit finish at the Angliru.

He suffered one major setback after crashing badly in the opening week of the Tour de France and then abandoning. However, globally, 2025 was the 27-year-old's most successful season to date by far.

Almeida said at the Velo d'Or ceremony he had had no such issues so far in the off-season and was looking forward to getting to grips with his 2026 season, which would - if the program is confirmed - mean starting two weeks later than in 2025, when he began racing at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in early February.

"Obviously, we're still in the preliminary phase, but it already counts as a season for us, it's going well: no bad luck, no getting sick, no falls. So everything is going wonderfully," Almeida said in a statement reported by Ciclismoatual.

This week, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will begin their first full pre-season training camp in Benidorm in southern Spain, and on Saturday, all of the team's top riders will reveal their main race program for 2026.