Almeida criticises UAE team-mates after Vuelta stage
TOUR
· 01.09.2025
The ninth stage of the Vuelta a España has provided the first small preliminary decision in the battle for overall victory. Jonas Vingegaard from Team Visma | Lease a Bike took a commanding lead on the final climb to the ski resort of Valdezcaray, distancing his main rival João Almeida from UAE Team Emirates - XRG by 24 seconds. The Portuguese rider had to make do without the support of his team-mates in the final and expressed clear criticism after the race. "I missed my team-mates a bit. There was no one left at the end. It is what it is," said Almeida in an interview with Eurosport. Particularly bitter for the 27-year-old: With Juan Ayuso, his team actually had a strong co-captain and mountain specialist at its side, but he fell back before the final climb and finished more than 20 minutes behind.
Almeida fights alone against the clock
The Portuguese captain of UAE Team Emirates - XRG then had to do the chasing alone and fought a kind of long-distance duel with Vingegaard. "It wasn't that steep, you could have saved a lot in the slipstream. I think it would have been possible. But you never know," Almeida analysed the situation at the finish. Neither Tom Pidcock from the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team nor Felix Gall from the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, who later finished fourth on the day, were able or willing to support Almeida in the chase. As a result, the Portuguese rider had to limit the damage, which he managed to do with a 24-second gap.
Ayuso's role raises questions
The absence of Juan Ayuso, the Spanish co-captain of UAE Team Emirates - XRG, was particularly noticeable. The 22-year-old, who had won the seventh stage to Cerler just two days earlier, was dropped before the final climb and finished more than 20 minutes behind. This raises questions, as Ayuso is obviously not completely out of form, as his stage win proves. The original strategy of using the Almeida-Ayuso double lead to act as a "pincer" against Vingegaard had already failed after the climb to Pal in Andorra, when Ayuso lost more than seven minutes on the favourites and dropped out of the overall classification.
Team dynamics at UAE under observation
Almeida's unusually open criticism of his team gives a deeper insight. Although UAE Team Emirates - XRG has been able to celebrate three stage wins at this Vuelta so far, there seems to be a lack of support for the overall classification captain at the decisive moment. The rumours about a possible transfer of Ayuso to another team are not diminished by this situation. Almeida appeared visibly irritated in the interview, even if he did not explicitly mention the name of his Spanish team-mate. The really difficult tasks are still to come at the Vuelta a España. Almeida and his team still have plenty of opportunities to come together against Visma | Lease a Bike and close the gap. At 38 seconds behind, the gap between Almeida and Vingegaard in the overall standings is still manageable.
