"Always with João" - No freedom for Ayuso and Vine ahead of Alto de l'Angliru in support of Almeida

A new Vuelta a Espana begins today, with the first high mountain stage finishing atop the Alto de l'Angliru. Despite the many controversies, UAE Team Emirates - XRG has thus far won 5 of the 13 stages, two of them with Juan Ayuso. The Spaniard will focus on supporting João Almeida from this point onwards according to Joxean Matxin.

This is what the UAE manager told Eurosport just before the start to the Angliru: "Soler knows it, Juan knows it, João knows it. I think the secret of the climb, despite how hard it is, is to crown the Cordal in front, to make the descent fast but safe and face the first kilometers of the Angliru without suffering to take the lead of the race. The Cordal is a very hard climb, but above all a technical descent and if it rains it is one of the most dangerous descents in the area".

"I think there are going to be people trying to get into the breakaway. We from today onwards are and must always cover João Almeida and work for João Almeida and this is where the overall is decided."

Both Jay Vine and Juan Ayuso have not been given permission to go into today's breakaway, focusing on covering the Portuguese rider in the mountains. "No. Always with João. We'll see who gets into the breakaway. Obviously if important riders get in we'll have to be there, but from here on we'll have to be there and the overall is at stake with João Almeida."

He emphasized the team's atmosphere: "It's a good atmosphere, it's nice, it's an atmosphere of laughter, and when you win five times more, the team concept is clear. So far we have seen stages where the breakaways were the protagonists, it will probably be the same today, but the finish has a big impact on the overall and we will have to focus on João Almeida from here on."

And UAE's tactic won't change much depending on what Visma tries to do on what many consider the queen stage of the race. "Let them be competitive, see if they really if they want to put Kuss or Jorgenson in the breakaway, possibly Jonas won't like it seeing what happened 2 years ago with Kuss, so I imagine they'll try to control the race and have Jonas as far ahead as possible."