"He entered the bus throwing punches" - How ambitious Juan Ayuso was since turning pro at 19

Juan Ayuso is one of the most talented and simultaneously controversial riders in pro cycling. This morning it has come out that he is potentially looking for a way out of the UAE team and within the same topic, one of the people who knows him best has shared a story about the youngster that shows his passion for the sport.

The 22-year old will most likely not be present at the Vuelta a España, hence maintaining his initial schedule. "His bullet for this year was the Giro and the team has had it planned since November. This year he has one-day races left, the World Championships with Spain and the Tour of Poland," Alix said in the Vida de Élite podcast. 

Alix is careful to criticize the Spaniard, instead he believes Ayuso very much has a winner's mentality. "Yes, yes, of course, he is a very precocious guy, very good, with a total winning mentality, that's what he is, a Cristiano Ronaldo. He is a double-edged sword, yes, but he has mental strength".

And to make that mentality very clear, Alix collected an anecdote from his early years in the peloton that perfectly exemplifies who the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider is: "Juan Ayuso when he went from junior to professional was half a year in a third team, a continental team, only half a year and he won the Giro of the young riders racing in Italy and, come on, he kept winning".

"And the first race he raced in Spain at the beginning of the season was the Gran Premio de Getxo, which is very hard. He came second at the age of 19, he was beaten by Luis León Sánchez and he entered the bus throwing punches. His first professional race he came second, Luis León Sánchez beat him, who wasn't just anyone, and he went in angry. That's an indication of what he's like".

Alix believes that the Emirati team did well with Ayuso, but that bad luck prevented him from not being able to shine in the last Giro d'Italia, which he ended up abandoning: "This year he's already run out of grand tours, let's see next year which one they take him to. For me it was a mistake for him to go to the Tour last year".

"Because going with Pogacar without being a pure domestique was not good, plus he had the covid and his team after his withdrawal was just as good. So I think that last year he should have gone to the Vuelta, that against Roglic, O'Connor and others he would have been on the podium for sure and why not win it. And this year the Giro was well planned, but it didn't work out".

But Alix does not believe that in the Emirati team he will have the opportunity to pursue his ambitions in the biggest race of all: "The Tour, until Pogacar gets tired". After what's happened in the past 12 months, it will be hard to see the two together in a Grand Tour but instead chasing separate races.