“I think that has a lot to do with it” – Was Ayuso’s Vuelta crack the final straw before his divorce with UAE?

Juan Ayuso’s implosion on Stage 6 of the Vuelta a España has unleashed a storm of commentary, and few voices have been as critical as Thijs Zonneveld’s. Some pundits have sympathised with Ayuso, who clearly lacked optimal preparation for the race, but not Zonneveld. On the Dutch podcast In De Waaier, Zonneveld tore into the Spaniard’s explanations, dismissing his claims of poor preparation and suggesting deeper issues both mental and professional may be at play.

Ayuso was drafted into UAE Team Emirates - XRG’s Vuelta squad only after Tadej Pogacar decided against riding. That late change became the central plank of his defence following his collapse in Andorra, where he lost more than twelve minutes and tumbled out of the general classification. “He himself says he only knew he was allowed to ride shortly before the Vuelta and that he wasn't properly prepared,” Zonneveld began.

According to the analyst, the situation was straightforward. “What's true is that the UAE team management hoped or thought, and even said, that Pogacar would ride the Vuelta. He doesn't ride with teammate Ayuso, so Ayuso wouldn't have ridden the Vuelta. Pogacar indicated he didn't want to ride the Vuelta, so the team simply called up Ayuso anyway.”

But for Zonneveld, that does not excuse the Spaniard’s performance. “So yeah, he probably didn't know that far in advance. But come on. He's been racing for the past few weeks leading up to the Vuelta. That wasn't bad at all. What you saw is that he might have come up a little short when things were going really fast for a long time. He did come up short in San Sebastian after so many climbs, but that was weeks ago.”

The problem, Zonneveld insisted, is not Ayuso’s calendar but his attitude. “You can expect a pro to try to be good in the last part of the season. He should have already known it was a sure thing. We also knew he'd probably ride. So I find it strange that he's now saying he already knew it wouldn't work out for the general classification. What exactly have you been doing these past few days?”

Ayuso’s contradictory form made the excuse harder to swallow. “A day earlier, on Wednesday, in the team time trial won by UAE, Ayuso showed good legs. He was very good. I think he was the strongest UAE rider in that team time trial.”

That fleeting strength contrasted with the sight of him unravelling on the road to Andorra. “He was also fine in one short team time trial,” Zonneveld said, “but there were still sixty riders in the peloton when he had to be dropped.”

For the Dutch commentator, the issue may run deeper than physical readiness. “There's a huge mental component to that. Knowing: I'm not at my absolute best, and I can only perform when I'm at my absolute best. Many athletes are guilty of that.”

Zonneveld called this a flawed mindset: “That's actually impossible. It's not possible in many sports, because the times you start and everything is perfect really don't happen often. If you have that once or twice a year, hats off. All the other times, there's just something.”

In other words, waiting for perfection is a luxury professionals cannot afford. “According to Zonneveld, the argument about not having perfect preparation doesn't hold water. There are who knows how many who don't have that either. Vingegaard probably isn't as good in this Vuelta as he was in the Tour.”

But Zonneveld went further, hinting that Ayuso’s difficulties may be tied to his relationship with UAE Team Emirates – XRG itself. Rumours of a transfer to Lidl–Trek have swirled around the Spaniard, and Zonneveld argued that might explain Ayuso’s uncertain posture at this Vuelta. “I think that has a lot to do with it,” he said. “I understand that on the one hand, you feel really sorry for yourself and think: I wish you had started next year. That's how he's feeling, I think. On the other hand, you can think: I'm going to show them all what I can do. That's very difficult.”

Zonneveld’s sharpest criticism was aimed at Ayuso’s reliance on excuses. To him, talk of poor preparation and late selection masks a more fundamental weakness: the inability to adapt when conditions aren’t perfect. “What exactly have you been doing these past few days?” he repeated.

Ayuso’s capitulation, then, is more than a bad day according to the Dutchman, who believes it is a test of mentality and direction. But regardless, the Spaniard’s move away from UAE appears to be inevitable, as tension has been on the rise ever since Almeida and Ayuso’s argument on the Galibier of the Tour de France last year. Is now the right time for Ayuso to move on? Let us know in the poll and comments section below.