João Almeida Secures €2.5M-Per-Year UAE Team Emirates Contract Until 2028

Portuguese cycling supporters woke up to the rare certainty that their leading stage-race specialist will not change colours anytime soon. João Almeida, fresh from the most brilliant campaign of his career, has extended his stay with UAE Team Emirates to the end of 2028, safeguarding both his own ambitions and the country’s visibility in the WorldTour for the next three seasons.

Why it matters for Portugal’s peloton

The new pact instantly becomes the largest ever signed by a Portuguese rider, with sources close to the negotiations valuing it at €2.5 million per year – more than double the salary Rui Costa commanded when he won the world title in 2013. Beyond the headline figure, the announcement secures a long-term leadership slot for a home-grown athlete inside one of the sport’s wealthiest structures. For a nation that has produced legends like Joaquim Agostinho yet has rarely seen its talents protected by multi-year top-tier contracts, Almeida’s deal signals a fresh era of financial muscle, strategic backing and grand-tour credibility.

Inside the new deal

Team principal Mauro Gianetti described the extension as a vote of confidence in Almeida’s “rare blend of consistency and tactical acumen”. Internally, the agreement is said to include undisclosed performance bonuses linked to podium finishes in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta as well as targets for WorldTour one-week races. By committing until 2028, UAE locks in a rider who finished second in the most recent Vuelta and, crucially, acted as Pogačar’s mountain lieutenant on the way to back-to-back Tour victories. For Almeida, the long horizon offers stability after two seasons punctuated by crashes and withdrawals, allowing him to enter each winter with a clear role and a tailor-made altitude programme overseen by the team’s Portuguese performance coach Ivo Oliveira.

Track record on a steady climb

Almeida’s trajectory differs from the meteoric paths of Tadej Pogačar or Remco Evenepoel, but the progression is no less striking. Since 2022 he has converted top-ten finishes into podiums, moving from fourth in the Giro to third the following year, then fourth in the 2024 Tour despite an early-week spill. The current season delivered a cascade of firsts: overall triumphs in the Basque Country, Romandie and Suisse, plus a landmark stage win on the Alto de L’Angliru that electrified Spanish roadside crowds and Portuguese broadcasters alike. Statistically, he now ranks as the most reliable GC performer under 28, having completed every grand tour he started – crashes aside – inside the top ten.

Measuring up to his generation

Within the so-called golden class of riders born in the late 1990s, Almeida occupies a middle lane between serial winners and precocious talents. Pogačar already owns four yellow jerseys; Evenepoel grabbed the Vuelta at 22; teenager Juan Ayuso flirted with the podium in his first major start. Almeida, now 27, has taken a more attritional route, perfecting his pacing in long Alpine climbs and honing a time-trial style centred on aerodynamic efficiency rather than raw watts. Sports scientists at the Portuguese Cycling Federation point to his year-on-year VO₂-max gains and a marked drop in body-fat percentage as evidence that his ceiling remains untapped. Crucially, he has proven capable of switching roles – leader when the course suits him, super-domestique when the team’s hierarchy requires it – a versatility that makes him indispensable in the era of eight-man rosters.

What comes next

Almeida’s 2026 calendar is expected to open with the Volta ao Algarve, offering home fans an early glimpse of the new rainbow-striped UAE kit, before he heads to an altitude camp in Sierra Nevada aimed at the Giro. The deal also keeps him under Emirati colours for the next Olympic cycle, raising the possibility of a Lisbon-to-Los-Angeles medal story if he lines up in the 2028 road race. For now, the message from both rider and team is plain: Portugal’s quiet assassin has found long-term shelter in the Gulf, and the country’s cycling dreams will travel alongside him in the cargo hold of a UAE charter jet for the foreseeable future.