{"id":240590,"date":"2026-04-27T09:02:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/i-just-wont-be-ready-giro-ditalia-loses-key-contender-in-joao-almeida\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T09:02:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:02:34","slug":"i-just-wont-be-ready-giro-ditalia-loses-key-contender-in-joao-almeida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/i-just-wont-be-ready-giro-ditalia-loses-key-contender-in-joao-almeida\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I just won&#8217;t be ready&#8217; \u2013 Giro d&#8217;Italia loses key contender in Jo\u00e3o Almeida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p id=\"elk-be6c83e9-9413-42e2-8329-42f8513919fd\">One of the top pre-race favourites for this May&#8217;s Giro d&#8217;Italia, <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/joao-almeida\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/joao-almeida\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/joao-almeida\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Jo\u00e3o Almeida<\/a>, has confirmed that he will not, finally, be taking part, after illness severely impacted on his build-up for the event.<\/p>\n<p>The news was first reported by Portuguese media then confirmed by the rider himself on his Instagram account on Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<aside data-block-type=\"embed\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\" class=\"hawk-root\"\/>\n<p id=\"elk-be6c83e9-9413-42e2-8329-42f8513919fd-2\">&#8220;Unfortunately I won\u2019t be at the start of the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/giro-d-italia\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/giro-d-italia\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/giro-d-italia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Giro d\u2019Italia<\/a> next month as planned,&#8221; the 27-year-old racer posted.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-continues-below block py-2 text-sm\">Article continues below <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"inline-block w-2.5 h-2.5 ml-2\" fill=\"currentColor\" preserveaspectratio=\"xMidYMid meet\" viewbox=\"0 0 1000 1000\"><path d=\"M1000 100L500 900 0 100h1000z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-recirculation-type=\"inline\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"Trending Bar\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pb-0 pt-2 mb-4\">\n        <span class=\"&#10;            flex&#10;            after:content-[''] after:flex-1 after:ml-4 after:my-[0.7rem] after:border-t after:border-solid after:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            before:content-[''] before:flex-1 before:mr-4 before:my-[0.7rem] before:border-t before:border-solid before:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            font-article-heading pb-0 !text-base uppercase sm:text-sm font-bold&#10;        \"><br \/>\n            You may like<br \/>\n        <\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>&#8220;Sickness in the past months has affected my preparations too much and has meant I just won\u2019t quite be ready in time which is a shame as it\u2019s a race I love so much.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;After talking it through with the team we decided it was best to take a rest period and switch focus to new goals later in the season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Almeida had recently indicated he was being held back by something he couldn&#8217;t quite pin down, suggesting he&#8217;d be undergoing blood tests following a subdued display at the Volta a Catalunya late last month. &#8220;I just need to rest a bit and maybe see what\u2019s wrong with me,&#8221; <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/i-need-to-rest-and-see-whats-wrong-with-me-joao-almeida-off-for-medical-tests-after-volta-a-catalunya-struggles\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/i-need-to-rest-and-see-whats-wrong-with-me-joao-almeida-off-for-medical-tests-after-volta-a-catalunya-struggles\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/i-need-to-rest-and-see-whats-wrong-with-me-joao-almeida-off-for-medical-tests-after-volta-a-catalunya-struggles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">The UAE Team Emirates-XRG racer has taken part in the Giro d&#8217;Italia four times and is both a former podium finisher and stage winner in 2023.<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-zZ5jbMtEdPTPpr7J2EWqbC\" class=\"slice-container newsletter-inbodyContent-slice newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-zZ5jbMtEdPTPpr7J2EWqbC slice-container-newsletterForm\">\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" class=\"newsletter-form__wrapper newsletter-form__wrapper--inbodyContent\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form__container\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__top-bar\"\/>\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__main-section\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Almeida also had his Grand Tour breakthrough in the race back in 2020, leading it for the best part of two weeks with an unexpectedly stubborn defence of the <em>maglia rosa<\/em> despite his inexperience.<\/p>\n<p>Hopes had been high that he would be able to follow up his podium finish in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a last year with a fresh challenge to <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/jonas-vingegaard\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/jonas-vingegaard\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/jonas-vingegaard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> &#8211; who defeated him in Spain &#8211; this May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Instead, UAE will be relying on Adam Yates and Jay Vine to lead their charge, with a replacement rider for Almeida yet to be announced.<\/p>\n<p>Almeida himself has yet to confirm his new targets for the season, although a return to the Tour de France to support <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/tadej-pogacar\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/tadej-pogacar\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/tadej-pogacar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> could well take place.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We haven\u2019t set out those new goals yet but that will be done calmly in the next few weeks\u2026 For now it\u2019s time to first rest-up a bit and build things back up slowly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/i-just-wont-quite-be-ready-joao-almeida-ruled-out-of-giro-d-italia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the top pre-race favourites for this May&#8217;s Giro d&#8217;Italia, Jo\u00e3o Almeida, has confirmed that he will not, finally, be taking part, after illness severely impacted on his build-up for the event. The news was first reported by Portuguese media then confirmed by the rider himself on his Instagram account on Monday morning. &#8220;Unfortunately [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":240591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6804],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-240590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}