☺️ Juan Ayuso ha protagonizado la imagen más amable de la jornada en la Itzulia 🐕 El ciclista español ha recogido el maillot de mejor joven con compañía #EsenciaCiclista #JuanAyuso #UAETeamEmirates #Itzulia
Juan Ayuso is not afraid of Mathieu van der Poel ahead of Amstel Gold Race: "I'm taking the form from the Basque Country with me"
CyclingWednesday, 10 April 2024 at 11:30
Next Sunday, the cycling world's attention turns to the Amstel Gold Race, one of the most exciting classics on the calendar. Although Team UAE Emirates faces the absence of defending champion Tadej Pogacar, its lineup remains formidable, with a number of potential leaders ready to race against man-of-the-moment Mathieu van der Poel including Juan Ayuso.
With Juan Ayuso, Marc Hirschi, Brandon McNulty, João Almeida and Finn Fisher-Black - who has been thriving on hilly races recently - the team has plenty cards to try and open up the race early and try to overpower Mathieu van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceuninck with numbers. An ambitious goal but one that is possible, although the Dutch classic is the one that suits the World Champion the best out of the Ardennes tryptic. Ayuso comes off the back of a second place at Tirreno-Adriatico and a win at Itzulia Basque Country, perhaps in the form of his life currently as he aims for the Ardennes.
Speaking to the media, Ayuso expressed his optimism and determination to play an important role in the Amstel Gold Race. "I feel good. I'm taking the form from the Basque Country with me," he said. "I hope to be there at the end on Sunday. We'll play our cards. It's the first time I'll take part in these races in good shape and I'm especially motivated."
In addition to Ayuso, Team UAE Emirates has three other top riders who could pose a significant threat in the race: Marc Hirschi, João Almeida and Brandon McNulty. Hirschi, ninth in the 2022 edition, has experience in the Amstel Gold Race and is eager to excel once again. Almeida and McNulty, equally talented, add depth and versatility to the team as well as options to attack the race from earlier on.
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- Avoiding him is a good strategy, you get more wins and then you can compete in the TDF relatively relaxed. Pit yourself against Pogi and not only there will be no wins, it will be considerable mental setbackabstractengineer21-12-2024
- If you hold onto then, you blowup in a minute and then you finish 5 minutes down like Ben O'Connorabstractengineer21-12-2024
- Based on what argument?Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- Agreed except the length of climbs, pretty sure you can stretch that to about a km unless we’re talking about half a dozen in quick succession.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- Lot of contradictory information floating around world cup contenders, someone should do some tidying up.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- A bit much to suggest that Pogacar is better than MvdP on most terrains. The only terrain Pogacar is clearly better is long climbs, on any other terrain they are pretty even except flat cobbles and short and steep climbs (max a few 100 mtrs) where MvdP is clearly better than Pogacar.Velovibes21-12-2024
- The likelihood of RE improving enough at this point to outclass TP or JV is less than zero.verve82521-12-2024
- That’s the most stupid thing I’ve read for a long time, did you not go to school and learn even the most basic physics? Aero depends on one thing only, drag, drag depends speed and the relationship is squared and apart from maybe at zero or the speed of sound or due to side winds that relationship is valid at all speeds, it dies not “suddenly” start at a magic number. Very simply, the faster you go the more the effect becomes important. If you think 25km/h is needed to have noticeable effects you’re delusional, athletic WR are cancelled as soon as winds top 2m/s that’s 7.2km/h, why because the assistance is already too important at that speed and the times prove it. You don’t even consider wind which can significantly increase the effective speed for aerodynamics and you underestimate speed of climbs, 6% is ridden more at 30 than 25km/h, a speed at which early generation high rims were considered to have more advantages than disadvantages. And finally, as in normal races you can’t just switch bikes according to terrain, it’s pretty pointless to discuss climbs as a separate situation, the aero will have justified itself plenty during the rest of the ride.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- If you look at how much TP progressed in that 1 1/2 years you can no longer say that’s nothing. If Remco improves as much he’s a challenger!Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- Froome wishing to ride the Vuelta...he won't even be selected for the team!frieders320-12-2024