"I didn't feel great and it hurt a lot" - Bad feelings don't prevent Juan Ayuso from taking time on all rivals and yellow jersey in Romandie

Juan Ayuso has really developed his time-trialing over the past year and it's giving big fruits. He didn't manage to do a lot of damage at today's time-trial at the Tour de Romandie, but despite the bad day he managed to take over the race lead.

“Everyone has given up [on the stage win]. All my teammates who came back to the bus already said that it was very tough. So yeah, I was mentally ready. I didn't feel great and it hurt a lot, but I managed my effort well," Ayuso said in a post-race interview. "I knew where to accelerate and where to recover. It was quite tricky, especially in the wet descent, but I think I saved some time there, because I took some risks. I am now in a good position to defend the lead tomorrow.”

7 seconds over Ilan van Wilder is his direct lead, but there are many riders closeby and within a minute. “It's quite a nice hole. There are still a lot of guys who are within the minute, so if they attack tomorrow, we have to go with them. There is still a lot to be done before we win this race.” The Spaniard, logically, does not consider this race won in any way specially with the queen stage to come.

“The last few days were not ideal for recovering from that. But hey, it's actually only a day and a half. Then I have some rest. So I hope the body can hold on for a while," he concluded.