João Almeida was born on August 5, 1998 in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. As a teenager in 2016 he swept junior national titles in the road race and time trial and moved to the Italian squad of Unieuro Trevigiani the next year.
His most formative years were in 2018-2019 with Axel Merckx’s Hagens Berman Axeon team. The first season as a U23 rider, he scored a big victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Espoirs and had strong showings at Ronde de l’Isard and the under-23 Giro d’Italia. He also won a stage and youth classification at Tour of Ukraine and had stage wins at other UCI 2.2 races in Turkey and Italy.
Along with fourth overall at Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and a pair of U23 national titles on the road the next year, Deceuninck-QuickStep was persuaded to sign Almeida for the 2020 season, and he would make a rapid impression at the WorldTour level.
Almeida helped teammate Remco Evenepoel to victory at the Volta ao Algarve early in 2020. Then he was one of the outstanding performers when the season resumed after the first COVID-19 lockdown in midsummer, placing second at the Giro dell’Emilia and third at the Vuelta a Burgos. When Evenepoel was ruled out of the Giro d’Italia through injury, Almeida stepped up to the mark, moving into the overall lead after the stage 3 summit finish at Mount Etna. Almeida would hold the maglia rosa for two weeks, which included a fine time trial showing in Valdobbiadene and a defiant defence of his advantage at Piancavallo. Almeida eventually conceded the pink jersey on the Stelvio in the final week, but he still finished strongly to place fourth overall in Milan.
In 2021, Almeida struggled in the early part of the Giro before finding his rhythm midway through, eventually placed sixth overall. He would finish the campaign – and his tenure at QuickStep – on a high with overall wins at the Tour de Pologne and Tour de Luxembourg.
Almeida moved to UAE Team Emirates in 2022 and he was in the mix for a podium finish at the Giro until he contracted COVID-19 in the final week. He recovered to place fifth overall at the Vuelta a España, where he also played a key role in helping young teammate Juan Ayuso to a podium finish.
Across a packed schedule in 2023, Almeida took second overall at Tirreno-Adriatico and third overall at Volta Catalunya for his Giro tune up. At the Giro and still just 25 years old, he finished third on GC and easily captured the youth classification. A month later he won the Portuguese ITT title again and was second overall at Tour de Pologne. A tough day on a short and brutal stage 13 at the Vuelta to the Tourmalet mountaintop finish saw him fall out of GC contention, and he then helped Juan Ayuso to fourth overall, while the young Portuguese rider completed the Grand Tour in ninth.
Key Results
2023
🥇 One stage and youth classification at Giro d’Italia
🥇 Portuguese National Championships ITT
🥈 GC at Tirreno-Adriatico
🥈 Two stages, points classification and GC at Tour de Pologne
🥉 Two stages and GC at Giro d’Italia
🥉 One stage and GC at Volta Catalunya
2022
🥇 One stage at Vuelta a Burgos
🥇 One stage at Volta a Catalunya
🥇 Youth classification at Paris-Nice
🥇 Portuguese National Championships road race
🥈 GC at Vuelta a Burgos
🥉 GC at Volta a Catalunya
5th GC at Vuelta a España
2021
🥇 Two stages, points classification and GC at Tour de Pologne
🥇 One stage, points classification and GC at Tour de Luxembourg
🥇 Portuguese National Championships ITT
🥈 Giro dell’Emilia
🥈 Two stages at Giro d’Italia
🥉 GC at UAE Tour
🥉 Milano-Torino
2020
🥇 One stage at Settimana Internazioale Coppi e Bartali
🥈 Two stages at Giro d’Italia
🥈 Giro dell’Emilia
🥉 Two stages and points classification at Giro d’Italia
🥉 GC at Vuelta a Burgos
4th GC at Giro d’Italia
2019
🥇 Portuguese National Championships road race and ITT
🥈 One stage at Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah
2018
🥈 One Stage and GC at U23 Giro d’Italia
🥈 Portuguese U23 National Championships road race and ITT
