"It's not normal for someone to be that good" - Juan Ayuso lauds Tadej Pogacar as cycling's Lionel Messi
CyclingSaturday, 03 May 2025 at 09:45
Tadej Pogacar has earned himself the reputation as the leading the light of his generation, thanks to some epic performances over the last few years. Whether or not the Slovenian is the greatest of all-time is a question that will likely never see a unanimous response from fans, but according to UAE Team Emirates - XRG teammate Juan Ayuso, Pogacar is the cycling equivalent of football genius Lionel Messi.
In a pre-Giro d'Italia interview with Wieler Revue, Ayuso spoke in depth about his goals for the future and working alongside the current world champion at UAE. "I actually see myself more as a climber. Time trials are crucial for a general classification rider, because in the mountains it’s harder to gain back one or two minutes,” the Spaniard says of himself, as he looks to take the next step in 2025 with a potential Maglia Rosa win in Italy. “It’s definitely an advantage, but I also want to become a better climber to close the gap to guys like Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, and Primoz Roglic."
Notably, Ayuso doesn't mention his teammate there, and that isn't a lapse in memory either. "No, I’m not mentioning Pogacar. If I say I want to be better than him, it turns into a media circus,” jokes the 22-year-old. “But of course, my dream is to become the best rider in the world. To be like him someday. Still, let’s be clear - I don’t see him as a rival. He’s the benchmark, the one every rider wants to reach."
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Ayuso and Pogacar haven't raced together all that often compared to some other UAE teammates. At the 2024 Tour de France, when the pair were together, things didn't exactly go to plan for Ayuso either. "Not being able to support him in last year’s Tour de France was tough," he admits. "But our relationship is totally fine. We’ve talked about it privately, and he understood.”
And ultimately, it seems as if there is a lot of respect from Ayuso towards his superstar teammate. “It’s true we’re one of the best teams in the world, and that means I’ve got a lot of strong teammates. If you want an opportunity, you have to prove yourself. If someone else is better, then you help them. That pushes everyone to perform at a higher level. Only Tadej is the undisputed team leader," he explains. "Everything is a little easier for him, haha."
"He’s simply the best rider in the world and he makes it all look so effortless. Friends outside of cycling sometimes ask me if it’s normal for someone to be that good. It’s not," concludes Ayuso. "What he does is like Lionel Messi dribbling past everyone as if they weren’t there. Messi makes it look easy - and in cycling, Tadej is our Messi.”
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- He's got so much natural talent, and so much potential, but he seems to be as fragile as a glass hammer. I hope that he can get things together, and I wish him well.
santiagobenites29-05-2025 - Do the 3 stooges: Armstrong, Bruyneel and Hincapie are invested somehow in this web site? Otherwise I completely can't understand. Nobody cares what they think or do. Let those 3 conmen sink to oblivionBM29-05-2025
- 19 and 20 will be tougher for Del Toro to recover if he gets dropped again.mobk29-05-2025
- "I’m still in the game" What game??? It is not even visible unless a commentator biased towards british riders mentions him. He is not in GC Top 10. He is not in stage top3 either. So he is neither here nor there. Even the helpers of UAE are better than him. he seriously needs to reconsider GC dreamsabstractengineer29-05-2025
- That is just talk for the sake of talking. The real problem is NOBODY yet knows Del Toto’s place in the hierarchy so everyone is just guessing if and when things might change, and usually in hindsight, predictions further than one day ahead being pretty pointless seeing as even for the next stage most get it wrong most of the time.Mistermaumau29-05-2025
- Del Toro cut off Carapaz a few times on that descent and dived the corners...not a great look!frieders329-05-2025
- That's certainly not true. Caruso (in 4th) is three minutes back and Storer (10th) is nearly eight. No one outside the top three has even a remote chance of winning (or, very likely, being anywhere near the final podium.)verve82529-05-2025
- Given the last week's inclinations - he's riding really well.. it's all to play for and they all know that to, any of the top 10 can win this
leedorney29-05-2025 - What does he have to learn?leedorney29-05-2025
- Almeida’s is up in 2027 when he’ll be 28. Let the bidding begin.Mistermaumau28-05-2025
I think Roglic could be the number one for the Giro. He has to stay upright tho😆 He seems to find a way to sabotage himself quite often but I wouldn't mind seeing him win the Giro. I don't like Ayuso, that's for sure. He's greedy and thinks he's gods gift. He thinks he's better than he is and he's not a team player. He reminds me of Pidcock. He's good but he's not happy with the opportunities the team gives him and he throws a tantrum when he's not given more opportunities. It's becoming something we are seeing more and more from this younger generation. They want it all and they want it now and they are going to do it their own way regardless but there's no room for that when you're on a TEAM. He needs to go somewhere else and pave his own road and see how hard it is when he doesn't have a juggernaut team to support him. I'm not a fan of his at all. I don't like selfish and greedy athletes. They are their own worst enemy and something always happens to them. It's just a matter of time before he screws up what he has going for himself