"If you read the press" - Juan Ayuso's set for Tour de France, but the ghosts of the past still haunt him

Juan Ayuso arrives at the 2026 Tour de France with renewed confidence, a new team, and a point to prove. After an eventful first half of the season that included impressive performances alongside frustrating setbacks, the Spanish rider believes he is finally moving in the right direction as he prepares to lead Lidl-Trek's general classification ambitions.

The 23-year-old opened his campaign by winning the Volta ao Algarve ahead of French prodigy Paul Seixas and João Almeida, but his momentum was repeatedly interrupted. He abandoned Paris-Nice while wearing the yellow jersey after crashing, and stomach problems forced him out of Itzulia Basque Country only a few days into the race.

Speaking in an interview with The Athletic, Ayuso admitted that despite those disappointments, his confidence in his physical condition has never disappeared.

“Before Paris-Nice I was doing my best ever numbers,” he says. “I just hope I can get back to that level and be there at the Tour.”

This year's Tour de France begins in Barcelona, Ayuso's birthplace, with a 19-kilometre team time trial under the revised format that allows riders to break away from their team's formation before the finish.

It is a stage that suits both Ayuso and Lidl-Trek, who impressed in the discipline during the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The American squad finished fourth in the race's team time trial, while Ayuso recorded the seventh-fastest individual time.

“We’ve got a really good team for the TTT and the team is also very optimistic,” he says. “In every TT we’ve done we’ve always been up there. Barcelona is going to be the biggest stage to do it on and I really think we can… I don’t want to say we’re going to win it but I think we’re going to be up there.”

Although Ayuso is fully aware of the challenge posed by Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, he believes there is still plenty to fight for in his first Tour de France targeting the overall classification.

“It’s my first Tour going to do the general classification,” he says.

“It’s perfectly compatible to go to learn and be ambitious at the same time. We can still aim for a big result but with all the setbacks I’ve had I first want to get the Dauphiné done and then we’ll set goals after that, see what’s realistic.”

His third-place finish at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes only reinforced the feeling that his form is steadily improving.

“I had a feeling that every day I improved, (that) I was getting better, so I’m happy,” he said.

A podium challenge in Paris appears realistic, even if matching the sport's two dominant Grand Tour riders may still be a step too far this summer.

As Ayuso has matured, his outlook on racing has evolved. Winning remains the ultimate objective, but the process of becoming the best version of himself now carries just as much importance.

“When I was younger the end game was all about the result. Now I really enjoy the process of getting there. Being here (at altitude) and trying to get the best out of myself every day, suffering through it all.

“I’m in a position now that when I was seven years old I would have been dreaming of just being in this interview with you right now. That’s what I have to live for every day and I have to be grateful.”

Even so, his competitive instincts remain unchanged. “As you say, I’ve been winning races since I started riding a bike, so that mentality has grown with me. Now it’s much harder to win a race than when I was seven years old, but it’s still there.”

Inspired by his childhood idol Alberto Contador, Spain's most recent Grand Tour winner, Ayuso continues to look for every possible advantage in pursuit of cycling's biggest prizes.

Part of that preparation now includes reading self-improvement books, particularly "Inner Excellence" by Jim Murphy, which has helped reshape the way he approaches success.

“These books help me realise that in the end the dream is not to win the Tour, but to prepare to win the Tour,” he says. “That’s the dream for me. That’s why I train, why I sacrifice basically my whole life: to win. I don’t do it to try to be second. You can come second or third and maybe it’s a great result but you work to win.”

Throughout his rapid rise to the WorldTour, Ayuso has often found himself at the centre of media attention. In recent seasons, however, he believes the public image built around him no longer reflects reality.

“Undoubtedly, yes. A different story has been told of me. Even coming here to this team (Lidl-Trek), when I speak with everyone and get to know all the staff, everybody’s told me that I’m completely different to what they had in mind. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, but if you read the f***ing press!’

“But I understand it’s part of the game and what sells. Two or three things happened in the past that from the outside look completely different to what actually happened and it stays.”

Ayuso insists he has learned not to let outside opinions affect his mindset, believing his new environment at Lidl-Trek will allow people to see the real person behind the headlines.

“There was division, though. A rift that could not be healed. It’s not that he was an unwilling helper or a disruptive force,” he says, “but more that he’s a born fighter who wants to win himself.”

“Obviously you prefer that if a story goes out it’s the right story, so it’s not that I don’t care, but I can’t let it affect me because I have no control over it,” he says. “A guy who doesn’t know me from anything that reads two things in the media and makes two conclusions is not going to take my happiness away. You can’t change people’s opinions and it’s not something that I really worry about.

“I’m calm about it all, and I know that in this team, in a different atmosphere, people are going to see more of who I am.”

Ayuso heads into the Tour de France as Lidl-Trek's leader for the general classification, with a podium finish firmly within reach if everything falls into place. But beyond this summer lies an even greater ambition.

“I don’t want to say it’s a matter of time because then everybody will take it out of context or whatever, and especially this year I think it’s going to be very difficult, but, totally, in my mind I do see that it can happen,” he says. “That’s why I work so hard for it and that’s the motivation.”

For Ayuso, the Tour de France is another important step in a journey that he hopes will eventually lead to wearing yellow in Paris.