UAE Team Emirates rider Joao Almeida has been forced to abandon the Tour de France 2025 because of the injuries he sustained in a stage 7 crash. Almeida was seen lagging behind the main peloton during stage 9 of the Tour and was finding it difficult to keep up with his teammates before he quit the race.

Almeida was involved in a high-velocity crash in the finishing kilometers of stage 7 to Mur-de-Bretagne. Almeida was sitting at the ditch side following the crash and was bruised and battered almost everywhere.

While Almeida had fortunately not suffered a concussion, X-rays were carried out on Almeida following the stage finish and was diagnosed with a fracture in the left side of his rib cage.

“A clinical examination after the finish confirmed there is fortunately no concussion. We then took Almeida for relevant radiological investigations. The X-rays confirmed he has suffered an uncomplicated left-sided rib fracture,” Dr. Adriano Rotunno explained to Roadcycling.com on Friday.

In addition to the rib fracture, Almeida had also suffered serious damages to his fingers, which could make it difficult for the Portuguese rider to handle his bike and control the brakes and gearing.

Almeida impressively won this year’s Itzulia Basque Country, Tour de Romandie, and Tour de Suisse and was a crucial element in Tadej Pogacar’s and the whole UAE team’s quest to defend the Tour de France Champion title in this year’s race. Almeida is known for his great climbing skills and persistence and was intended as lead-out rider for Pogacar in the high mountain climbs to follow later in the coming stages of the Tour.

Pogacar’s other lieutenant Marc Soler also crashed in yesterday’s stage 8, though fortunately less heavily than the Portuguese rider. Almeida’s Tour exit is a major blow to Pogacar’s Tour de France ambitions.

The whole team here at Roadcycling.com is wishing Joao Almeida a complete and speedy recovery.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Tour de France.