Joao Almeida capped another successful week for UAE Team Emirates-XRG by clinching the overall title at the Tour de Romandie, with the Portuguese climber claiming general classification victory following a confident final stage in the individual time trial in Geneva.
Almeida secured overall victory on Sunday by finishing second to Remco Evenepoel in the closing time trial.
“The goal was to win the race,” Almeida said. “What counts is the last day, right?”
“Of course, I feel very happy. Unfortunately, I didn’t win a stage, but we were always in the front, and that’s what matters. I’m super happy for the overall win. I need to thank the whole team; they did a really good job, and we can be proud of it.”
The day before, Almeida had lost a mountaintop duel to Frenchman Lenny Martinez, a specialist climber, in an Alpine stage.
Entering Sunday's time trial, Martinez led Italian Lorenzo Fortunato by two seconds and Almeida by three seconds.
Evenepoel, the Olympic and world time trial-champion, powered away to win the flat 17.1km stage in 20 mins 33 secs.
Almeida was next fastest, 12 second behind. The diminutive Martinez was 13th, 41 sec behind the winner to secure second overall. Fortunato was another 40 places and 55 sec behind.
Evenepoel, who returned last month after four months out injured and recorded some promising results in the one-day classics, was testing himself in a stage race as he prepared for the Tour de France. He finished eighth overall.
“I knew I was coming to this race with some up and down form, so I didn't have big ambitions. I was mainly focusing on today's stage,” said the Belgian.
“I still have more than two months before the Tour de France, so I have to be patient and work day by day.”
The Tour de Romandie win adds to the UAE team's brilliant 2025 season, bringing their total number of wins to 37. The team's next target is the Giro d’Italia which gets under way in Albania next weekend.
