This Saturday, August 3, road cycling will face its main event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with the men's road race, where Spain will take a team formed by Juan Ayuso, Alex Aranburu and Oier Lazkano. The Spanish trio will seek to fight for the medals in a race that is unpredictable, although Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert are the main favorites for the gold medal.
A day before the race, in direct statements to the Real Federación Española de Ciclismo, Ayuso himself makes a preliminary assessment from the Olympic Village, talking first of all about his feelings after recovering from a COVID that left him out of the time trial at the Olympic Games (where he was replaced by Oier Lazkano):
"It has been a difficult few weeks because of everything that has happened. COVID has affected me more than on previous occasions. I have tried to recover in the best way possible, and to do everything in my power to be able to get here given the circumstances", begins explaining the UAE Team Emirates rider, who had to abandon the Tour de France because of the infection, and will most likely sit out of the Vuelta a España as well.
Juan Ayuso agrees that the route will be chaotic
Regarding the race itself, and its course, Juan Ayuso has agreed with the statements of the rest of the stars who will compete in the road race for the medals: "I think it's going to be crazy, hard to predict. I have no idea what's going to happen just because of that. It's a very long race and with such a small peloton it's really strange. I for one have never experienced it and I have yet to see a race that is anything like this one."
"We will have to adapt to the circumstances, but well. I think the range of possibilities is wide open, and although it is not a course that favors us much, we will have to be very attentive at all times," added Ayuso, confident of achieving a great result for Spain.
Finally, the 21-year-old rider talks about his first experience at the Olympic Games: "It's amazing. We have the privilege of being here in the Olympic Village and you experience a totally different environment than the one you have with your team. Here you share many sports, with other athletes from different countries. It's a very nice experience.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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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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#Paris2024 | @juann_ayuso nos cuenta cómo afrontará mañana su participación en la prueba en línea de los Juegos Olímpicos 2024 🙌 🗣️ "Me ha costado recuperarme del Covid-19, pero creo que mañana podré ofrecer un buen nivel" #TeamESPciclismo 🇪🇸
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