"He would go for it" - Bruyneel thinks Juan Ayuso would attack Isaac del Toro to win the Giro

One of the biggest debates at the moment in the Giro d'Italia is what will happen in a hypothetical situation in which Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso end up being the strongest riders in the high mountains and end up playing the Giro d'Italia between them.

What if neither Primoz Roglic, nor other contenders like Antonio Tiberi, Simon Yates, Egan Bernal or Richard Carapaz can hurt the all-powerful UAE team? There is a lot of talk about this scenario, and there will be even more talk as long as they remain first and second overall. Remember, just half a minute separates the two young stars.

On Lance Armstrong's WEDU podcast host Spencer Martin asked Johan Bruyneel about the potentially tense situation.

"What if no one can handle him but Ayuso can? What then would happen with a situation similar to the Vuelta 2023 where the only rider capable of overtaking you is your own teammate?"

Bruyneel's answer was very clear. The former US Postal sports director is very clear about what would happen if the time came when he was the only one who could beat Isaac del Toro. The Belgian does not believe that the same thing would happen as with Visma (then still Jumbo) when Sepp Kuss ended up winning the race ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and Roglic.

"Ayuso would go for it. For sure. He's a winner, he's the leader in his mind, he's the winner in his mind. If he has the legs, nobody is going to tell him 'hey, Del Toro has to win because he's in pink.' No, Ayuso is going to go for it."

Obviously there is still a long race ahead, but we imagine that Matxín and the rest of UAE's technicians are considering this possibility in order to know how to act when the time comes. As we say, there is still a long way to go and we imagine that right now they are simply enjoying the privileged position they have in the general classification.