Juan Ayuso declares his goals for upcoming Giro: "If I don't win, it won't be a failure... but I'm not going for a podium either"

It's been a while since the situation around Grand Tour favourites was as hard to read as is the case now with upcoming Giro d'Italia. Of the many men who can aim for Maglia rosa, the two that are mentioned more often than others would be 2023 winner Primoz Roglic and UAE Team Emirates - XRG wonderkid Juan Ayuso.

"This year, we're the two who've achieved the best results so far. There will be great rivals, but, well, Roglic is obviously the biggest rival, the rider to beat. I think he's the biggest favorite; he's the rider who knows what it's like to win the Giro," Ayuso said on TDPedales. "You have to go out and win, but if I don't win, it won't be a failure. But saying I'm going for a podium isn't the idea either," he emphasizes.

"It's a typical Giro, which suits me well, although I miss a tough stage in the first two weeks, as it can be a very long wait to get to one of those stages in the third week," he analyzes. Ayuso emphasizes that "there will be a lot to cover in the final week, but we have two time trials, the stage in Siena, and some hilltop finishes. Things can happen in the first two weeks, but I would have liked to have a stage before then."

Many look forward to the mini-Strade Bianche that finishes in Siena as an important benchmark at the end of first block of racing. "It will be beautiful stage," agrees Ayuso. However he doesn't expect major shifts in the GC to happen during stage 9.

Compared to other years, most of climbing meters are packed into the final week of 2025 edition. Stages 16, 19 and 20 all go way above 4000 meters of climbing. For Ayuso, "every day in the final week will be interesting, with stages of more than 4,000 meters of elevation gain and long, very tough climbs where the race could be decided."

Also the seventeeth stage with Passo del Mortirolo on the menu won't be an easy ride for favourites, although the profile would seem to favour breakaway warriors. "I don't know if it will be decisive. It will be the easy climb. The penultimate stage, with the finish in Sestriere after Finestre, could be very important; it will be very tough," he refers to stage 20 which will also be the final opportunity for anyone to