Juan Ayuso eager to compete but team prioritizes his complete recuperation - "We prefer to have him calm, to trust in him"

After his impressive performance in the Vuelta a Espana last year, Juan Ayuso quickly became a prominent figure in the cycling world, displaying remarkable skill and talent despite his young age. Many anticipated his return to the competition this year and had high hopes for his performance, but as of now, he has yet to make his season debut.

While his name was initially included in the roster for Volta a Valenciana, he did not appear at the start line, and the same situation occurred in Volta a Catalunya. However, it seems there is a reason for his absence.

“Before the Volta a Valenciana, he had some discomfort in his heel and we recommended him to stop training for a few days. The discomfort hasn’t gone away, and he continues to stop training to try and recover,” Joxean Fernández Matxin, the general manager of UAE-Team Emirates, told Cycling Weekly.

He continues, “At the start it was an ache, and when there isn’t pain you don’t look for other solutions. The team doctor controlled it. But now we’re searching for other solutions.” He revealed that in most it heals within two to three weeks, but in case of Ayuso, it keeps returning.

“Until he has done four weeks of consecutive training, we are not going to set a calendar for him. I think he’s currently in his third week of training and if he completes a fourth week we’ll design a calendar.”

While Juan Ayuso is eager to rejoin the peloton and compensate for the time he has missed, his team is prioritizing his complete recuperation before permitting him to make his way back to his teammates at the starting line. “We prefer to have him calm, to trust in him. He’s wanting to compete, he’s not wanting to be in the doctors, and he doesn’t want to have niggles. It’s difficult when you are in pain, but when you don’t have pain, that’s the moment we have to search for other solutions,” concluded Matxin.