Juan Ayuso: "Covid has affected me more than on previous occasions"

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.