Juan Ayuso admits he “would like” a shot at Vuelta a Espana despite remaining out of UAE Team Emirates' plans
Cycling
Things haven't exactly been going to plan for 21-year-old Spanish starlet Juan Ayuso. After a few controversial moments at the 2024 Tour de France, Ayuso abandoned on stage 13 due to Covid. Returning to racing on Saturday in the road race of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, 22nd was the best he could manage.
“I am exhausted," Ayuso gasped post-Olympic road race in quotes collected by AS having crossed the line over two minutes down on the eventual gold medal winner, Remco Evenepoel. "In terms of sport, the position is nothing special, but I will take with me the experience, one that I will never be able to forget."
As mentioned, part of the reason for Ayuso's recent struggles has been Covid and the subsequent struggles to return to a top level. "It has been three difficult weeks. Today I thought I would not even finish," the 21-year-old continues his reflection. "Then, at times I saw myself dreaming of the medal. I have suffered as much as I could and that makes me feel proud. I thought that in three or four days I would be fine, like other times I had COVID, but this time, for reasons unknown to me, I have been three weeks without getting on the bike."
The big question lingering for Ayuso however, remains his participation in the upcoming Vuelta a Espana. Having claimed finishes of 3rd and 4th in 2022 and 2023 respectively, many expected the Spaniard to once again fly the flag for UAE Team Emirates this time around, with race director Javier Guillen even using his public platform to plead the team to send his nation's brightest general classification hopeful to his home Grand Tour.
As widely reported however, as things stand, Ayuso remains in a position of 'first reserve' for the 2024 Vuelta a Espana. Despite this, AS reports that Ayuso says he "would like" to get another crack at the final Grand Tour of the year. Time will tell if he gets his wish.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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Paris 2024 ✅ No fue el resultado deseado, pero después de unas semanas difíciles, ha sido un honor representar a España dando todo lo que tenía. Gracias a todos los aficionados que ayer llenaron Paris de banderas de 🇪🇸 y a los que desde casa animaron. Orgulloso de ser 🇪🇸 ❤️
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