ANALYSIS | The imminent divorce between Juan Ayuso and UAE in 5 key points

The Vuelta a Espana 2025 was set to be a race where Jonas Vingegaard made all the headlines from the start of the competition. However, the first week has been completely overshadowed by the situation of Juan Ayuso with UAE Team Emirates - XRG. The Spaniard's grand tour has been a rollercoaster ride, and a move to Lidl-Trek seems very close to happening simultaneously.

Since the Tour de France 2024, more than a year ago, the relationship between Juan Ayuso and UAE has been difficult. It all started with his refusal to work for Tadej Pogacar in that Grand Boucle. After criticism from Joao Almeida and Adam Yates, the Spaniard's future as a star of the UAE team became more complicated.

He was again given a vote of confidence in the first major event of the 2025 season: the Giro d'Italia. And there, far from resolving the tensions between rider and team, they only increased.

As was logical, Juan Ayuso did not participate in the last Tour de France after abandoning the Corsa Rosa. There were no plans for him to ride this Vuelta a España 2025 either, but the discarding of Tadej Pogacar, tired from his intense season, caused him to be selected at the last minute. The result was a collapse in the sixth stage that left him out of the general classification.

The positive part came a day later. And it is in quotation marks because, despite his stage victory on the seventh day of La Vuelta, Ayuso was also criticized. That he had pretended to be tired so as not to help Joao Almeida, that he only thinks of himself, that he is not a team rider.... All this has ended with the Spaniard hastening his departure to change of scenery in Lidl.

So what were the 5 keys to why things between Juan Ayuso and UAE Team Emirates XRG have ended so badly, to the point where there is no truce after his first career victory in the Vuelta a España? We look at them all below.

As mentioned above, it all started at the Tour de France 2024. Specifically, in the Galibier stage. On that climb, Juan Ayuso was with the favorites, but he did not want to pull the group together with Joao Almeida and Adam Yates in favor of Tadej Pogacar.

Criticism from Almeida, Yates and even Mauro Gianetti led to believe that Juan Ayuso's departure would take place that same year. But Matxín came to the rider's defense, aware of his talent, and decided to give him one more vote of confidence for the 2025 season.

In the first races of the season, Juan Ayuso showed an incredible form. The Spaniard chained 3 victories in a row, taking:

Later, in the Volta a Catalunya he repeated his stage victory, and was second in the general classification only behind Primoz Roglic. All these results were crucial for what was to happen later in the Giro d'Italia.

As expected, Juan Ayuso started the Giro d'Italia with the goal of the general classification. His high level led to high hopes. In fact, he took the first victory of his career in a Grand Tour by winning stage 7, and placing 2nd overall. But multiple crashes caused his level to drop significantly.

At the same time, Isaac del Toro gave a blow on the table in the gravel stage. Since the ninth day, the Mexican from UAE wore the pink jersey. Unfortunately, the Emirati team was not clear about who they were going to pin their hopes on. Perhaps, being so young, they were afraid to bet everything on Del Toro.

Juan Ayuso ended up abandoning on stage 18 without being able to act as Isaac del Toro's domestique and the Mexican lost the overall on stage 20 of the Colle delle Finistre when the UAE had had opportunities to get on track for victory on previous days.

The absence of Juan Ayuso in the Tour de France was obvious. Because of what happened the previous year and because of his fitness problems after abandoning the Giro d'Italia. But with Tadej Pogacar's decision to skip the Vuelta a España, Team UAE decided to include the Spaniard as co-leader of the lineup alongside Joao Almeida.

Probably, if Almeida had not been injured in the Tour de France and was in top form, UAE Team Emirates-XRG would not have chosen Ayuso. But they decided to play the general classification with two cards, knowing that Jonas Vingegaard was superior.

As it was also expected, since he had only raced Clásica de San Sebastián and Circuito de Getxo in the last 3 months, Juan Ayuso was not ready to fight for the red jersey, and was left in stage 6, losing 12 minutes to the favorites.

He himself stressed that he had not planned to fight for the overall: "I've been saying it since day 1 and before the start, my plan was not to do the overall, the team asked me to do it and I tried out of respect". Once again, tension and lack of understanding between Juan Ayuso and UAE.

At this point, it seemed there was no turning back. Because not even his stage victory a day later, after a tremendous performance from the breakaway (he broke away 171 km from the finish and rode solo for the first hour of the race), dispelled the critics. Quite the opposite. It was said that once again he was not riding for the team, that the previous day was on purpose to leave João Almeida alone and fight for his own goals.

Therefore, when Lidl-Trek showed interest in Juan Ayuso, the Spanish rider did not even think about it. Not even 24 hours after his stage victory in the Vuelta a España, AS reported that he had accelerated his departure from UAE to join the American team.

If even a stage win in a grand tour can't loosen the tension between a rider and a team, the logical decision is to leave. There was also the option of Movistar Team, but the Spanish team does not have the economic or competitive power of Lidl-Trek. There, Juan Ayuso will be able to become the rider he has always aimed to be.

With teammates such as Mads Pedersen, Jonathan Milan, Giulio Ciccone, Mattias Skjelmose, Daan Hoole, Thibau Nys, Mathias Vacek... The dream of being one of the leaders of one of the World Tour giants, leaving behind all the controversy that has dragged for more than a year with UAE, cannot be rejected when you have it at your fingertips.