The UAE Team Emirates-XRG staff briefly celebrated another Tour de France stage victory at the team parking at the foot of the Mûr-de-Bretagne after Tadej Pogačar won the sprint atop the hill behind them but there was also a real sense of concern after João Almeida crashed hard with six kilometres to go.
Pogačar took his 101st career victory, and UAE Team Emirates-XRG's 60th win of the 2025 season a few hours after Isaac del Toro won stage 3 of the Tour of Austria.
Yet everyone's thoughts were for Almeida. How badly was he injured? Will he be able to race on in this Tour de Franc? If so, can he still play a vital support role in the mountains for Pogačar?"
Pogačar dedicated his victory to his injured teammate from the podium area in Mûr-de-Bretagne, as Almeida descended by team car to the team bus.
"João crashed really badly, so it was not a perfect day. It's hard to make everything perfect in cycling, you can avoid something or improve something," Pogačar said.
"Today I'm proud of how we rode. We decided that we'd go for the stage and the guys did an amazing job.
"There's more chance of winning on this kind of finish if everything is under control because I believed in my sprint. If you go too deep beforehand, maybe someone is better and can pass you."
Almeida crashed hard with several other riders after an apparent high-speed touch of wheels. He appeared in pain but got up and got going, as Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) was forced to abandon the Tour.
He finished 10:13 down on Pogačar and arrived at the team after a further 20 minutes. He got out of a team car and quickly climbed into the team bus to be evaluated by the team doctor.
"I hope he's not too bad. Maybe he's broken a finger but it was a big crash. He was in great shape. Unfortunately crashing is part of cycling," Sports Manager Joxean Fernández Matxín told Cyclingnews and Cycling Weekly at the team bus after driving Almeida down from the finish.
"It was impossible for him to ride to the team bus due to the huge crowds on the road. It was safer for him to come to the team bus by car than risk crashing again.
"João was naturally really disappointed. He worked a lot for this, he went to altitude camp, made huge sacrifices with his nutrition and spent little time at home. Then six kilometres from the end of the sixth stage he crashed. He was very disappointed."
"We won with Tadej, we won with del Toro in Austria but João is an important guy for us, so this is not a good day."
X-rays carried out at the mobile x-ray truck at the race permanence provided the final, precise verdict on Almeida's injuries.
Cyclingnews saw him arrive in a UAE team car. He had several bandages on different points of road rash and his legs and arms but his finger and rib were his biggest concern.
"To be honest the finger (on his left hand) is the worst. That could be a problem," Almeida said as he left the mobile medical truck to head to the UAE team hotel.
"I have a bit of a fractured rib but should be OK to start in the morning. We take it day by day."
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