"Ayuso was supposed to do the Tour. Do you see him? No, he won’t do the Vuelta" - UAE team boss has no plans to send Juan Ayuso to ride the Spanish grand tour
CyclingThursday, 18 July 2024 at 12:00
While Tadej Pogacar has a pretty flawless Tour de France, the same cannot be said about his teammate Juan Ayuso. The Spaniard with a Vuelta a Espana podium finish in his palmares was intended to stay in the GC as a co-leader, but as he had to abandon the race during second week, the focus has to shift.
Naturally, Tuttobici asked the UAE Team Emirates boss Mauro Gianetti about whether there is a chance the 21-year-old would return to his home Grand Tour in August. "Ayuso was supposed to do the Tour. Do you see him? No, he won’t do the Vuelta. I have a lot of strong riders to send there," is the strong resolution of Gianetti.
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In recent days, there have been rumors that the young Spaniard has a contract that states that he does not go to the Grand Tours to pull for Tadej. "But do you think I would sign a contract like that?" Gianetti responded. "Whoever goes fast has the team at their disposal. And Tadej seems to go fast and win a lot."
Racing for the UAE's super team, Juan Ayuso won't be always guaranteed a leadership in coming years as there are more potential leaders than actual leadership opportunities. Mario Cipollini believes Ayuso should stay patient rather than seek a way out of his contract, naming examples of greats such as Miguel Indurain or Chris Froome, whose careers also started as other's super domestiques. "He risks stopping racing. I'm exaggerating, clearly, but it's not easy to get out of this situation. However, the risk that this matter will condition his career for years is very real."
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- Very true, the strongest should and will win, in the moment - I know what I would do...
leedorney23-05-2025 - Lets not forget it's a 3 week race and Del Toro doesn't have a track record of doing these long GTs. All it takes it one bad moment on a climb to blow up.frieders323-05-2025
- I like this young man, if he is feeling good he should go for it on the next mountain stage.awp23-05-2025
- Team politics are terrible, I suspect that the team management knows who the strongest is on UAE in this Giro, Juan Ayuso is a great young athlete but he wobbles all the time. I figure UAE will go with who feels better. If del Toro feels good the team will probably back him. To hear Isaac say he stopped riding to wait for Ayuso because it was the right thing to do, made me upset. I know we are only fans but we want to see the strongest win.awp23-05-2025
- Froome was, in my book, the greatest Grand Tour rider ever. Better than Armstrong, better than Induarain. It all ends in a second for these guys. I remember that whenever people complain about Pogacar, and I am grateful.
Barney23-05-2025 - Tom retired instead of signing another contract. Visma offered him a contract renewal, he decided to retire which shocked everyone because he is such a strong cyclist.awp23-05-2025
- "North American"adammyerson22-05-2025
- The more statements that came out from his mouth, the more I'm impressed with how he carries himself.
KerisVroom22-05-2025 - What has it to do with us. It's between him and his employer. The crap about him having plenty money is irrelevant.Sabino22-05-2025
- lol, he knows how not to get into trouble with his teammates.KerisVroom22-05-2025
Warren Barguil, Jose Rujano and Pierre Roland are great examples of a talented driver whose ego got ahead of his legs and really limited his career through ill-advised movements between teams...
This is the punishment for Ayuso not to do his job in the Galibier, and the more riders I see riding with COVID, the more I think Ayuso was sent home out of disgust for his arrogance than for illness...
Almeida has complained for years about Ayuso's egoism and when that began to impact the Patron, he immediately became dispensable given how wonderfully Almeida, Yates, Pollit, Wellens and Sivakov rode in the TdF...
Ayuso is coming to face with some reality about his role in the team and if he doesn't get a track, his career will be one of the great "What if's" in cycling...
Why did he sign for this team when he knew that Pogacar was the main man? He must have been aware that he would not be allowed to do his own thing in the tour or any race Pog focussed on. I'm guessing his agent said "look at the money they are offering!" For sure a get out of jail card is going to be expensive.
Before this year I thought Almeida might be the superfluous young star at UAE, but now it might be Ayuso.
In theory he could have a great career with UAE:
1) Leading the team in 1 week races
2) Supporting Pogi in grand tours
3) eventually becoming an undisputed grand Tour leader
Seems like he doesn't want to do #2 though. So perhaps he would be better on a lesser team where he would already be leader?
He's young but apparently got an impression of himself...
Juan's stock really declined as a result of his shenanigans in this TDF.
Absent a major course correction in his attitude, his future prospects have really dimmed.
I guess that's what you get for not being a team player.