“I could blow up... or Seixas, Del Toro, or whoever” - Ayuso sounds Tour de France warning ahead of Alps final showdown
CyclingThursday, 23 July 2026 at 14:30
Juan Ayuso tackles stage 18 of the Tour de France 2026 convinced that the high mountains can still flip the general classification. The Spanish rider said that both he and Mattias Skjelmose are in a position where they must take risks to try to move up, though he knows legs will decide the outcome.
“Both Skjelmose and I are in a spot where we can’t really drop much further back, and if it happens, well, it wouldn’t be a disaster. We have to try to push forward, but your legs have to back you up for that too,” he explained.
Ayuso believes today’s stage could offer chances if the race fractures at key moments. In his view, the remaining Alpine Alps stages will be shaped by accumulated fatigue and could open significant gaps among the favourites.
“Let’s see what situations come up and whether we can make the most of them. I think the next stages will be decided by attrition, and there could be some big blow-ups — I include myself in that, I could crack and lose a lot of time, but Seixas, Del Toro or whoever could lose time too. We need to be there and seize any opportunity,” he said.
The Spaniard was also asked about the controversy surrounding anti-doping controls carried out during the night on some riders. Although he acknowledged he has not experienced that himself, he understands the frustration it can cause in the middle of the Tour.
Juan Ayuso at the 2026 Tour de France
Fight against doping and controls at the Tour
“It’s a pretty complicated issue. I haven’t had to do a test at 2:00 or 5:00. If they did it to me at that time, I’d feel frustrated, as I think anyone would. We’re in a Tour where we measure everything down to the millimetre, and if they don’t let you sleep before a super hard stage, it throws you off,” he said.
At the same time, Ayuso made it clear he supports the fight against doping and recalled that he himself was tested on the eve of a rest day, albeit at a time he considers more reasonable.
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“I’m the first to want a clean, good sport. On the rest day they came at 22:30. It’s a bit uncomfortable because you want to be getting into bed and so on, but I think those times are more understandable. Anyway, we’ll have to comply — it is what it is — so there’s not much more you can do,” he concluded.
If you prefer, I can give it a more journalistic angle, in the style of AS, Marca or Eurosport, with a catchier headline and a more developed lead.
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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- You can't handle the truth, so don't even talk about it. Capish?mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales23-07-2026
- First of all, sending only one person would never be credible. Any team would claim procedure wasn’t adhered to and call for invalidation. Also, a single person would be too susceptible to manipulation. That’s just for starters. Police, debt collectors, justice representatives and the like also never go about official duties solo. As for teams, well sorry, if you kniw only top X riders woukd get tested, that’s a blank check for the rest of the team to do exactly as they want at night so to make sure the team is not being used for the leader, at LEAST one other random rider needs to be tested simultaneously. Can people sometimes think things over a bit before treating everything like some theoretical playground game?Mistermaumau23-07-2026
- > Imagine how many tight-lipped competent and available personnel would be required to descend on 10 teams simultaneously? You would need 10 persons only. Taking blood sample is not rocket science and any nurse or doctor can do that. Also nobody is talking about taking samples from whole teams but only from TOP10 riders fighting for GC.averagecyclist23-07-2026
- Due to the high bar of the evidence needed for testing, i expect Jonas and Pogi to text positive otherwise ITA is just bullshittingabstractengineer23-07-2026
- Ahhh poor Pogiboy. Didn’t see you moaning too much when it was western fans doing that against a western rider, which, using your methodology and analysis must be more than enough proof for you that dumb fans are not biased towards any one rider or his nationality but just general dyckheads. If you don’t have the level to separate those from the general population you’re just showing how desperate you must be for things to fit into the narrative you’ve chosen as truth, am sure you can think of which personality that seems to resemble most.Mistermaumau23-07-2026
- Firstly, seems like you are confusing ITA and AFLD where a biais would be more believable, secondly as I already suggested, any French bias would have seen testing of DT and RE instead of JV and TP. Moving on to big brain Plugge, obviously not very versed in the art of secrecy that is a prerequisite for this type of operation. Am already surprised TP was tested a whole 3 hours after JV and pretty sure by then someone at UAE was already aware something was on, you can’t keep such an event (2am ) from not being mentioned by someone to another and then another. Imagine how many tight-lipped competent and available personnel would be required to descend on 10 teams simultaneously? Imagine nobody noticing any preparations (very discreet gathering of known/unknown (if unknown once, certainly not next time) faces in one place. Imagine teams not noticing or sharing almost simultaneous requests for rider locations. Imagine it’s that easy to reach riders’ rooms anywhere in the middle of the night without being noticed. Remember how Lance could still dupe controllers only seconds away from him, read about how they have to test urine in tennis now because players discovered how to make as if they were peeing their current output, watch films in the line of Gattaca, keep informed on medical, mafia and business developments and stop being naive. Why would cycling suddenly be the only clean sport and that just when money is finally becoming interesting, why would « manufacturers » avoid cycling for sales, scruples?Mistermaumau23-07-2026
- Yeah, half an hour of TT is hardly comparable to over a dozen hours of tough long climbing. That’s like tweaking an Ironman down to 10 minutes of swimming. GTs should be including more time when riders have to perform on their own.Mistermaumau23-07-2026
- That’s not a sentenceMistermaumau23-07-2026
- I had another debate elsewhere following on from MM’s complaint which got some interesting comments, unfortunately it got closed just as it started getting interesting. 2 things I’ll carry over that I couldn’t suggest and haven’t been mentioned anywhere I checked: Firstly, the PS biais, sorry but that’s just not credible. If anyone up there had wanted to influence things like Trump tried (and failed) at Fifa (incidentally, did he really stoop so low to try to convince Rodri is his or was that a case of mistaken identity?) they would have tested Remco and Del Toro instead. Somebody’s best shot at proving being woken at night leads to accidents was a statistical argument regarding an increase of traffic incidents the day after clocks go forward. So firstly, assuming nobody adapted by going to bed earlier and secondly denying anyone might be driving differently because at some point they realised they’re later than expected or didn’t stick to their usual routine perfectly. As for today’s title, probably best if DT and PS leave the testing of Remco to the ITA, ride your own races guys, stop focusing on others, and DT, if Carapaz tries anything, remember your Giro.Mistermaumau23-07-2026
- Something not quite right in this story. They knew who you were or you stopped to exchange numbers? Obviously now you have theirs do they are identifiable and the text proves they knew there was an incident so technically they rode away from an accident without due paperwork. Not hard to deal with this correctly before telling the whole world of a tiny incident no worse than any cyclist has experienced. Always a bit weird when people get a voice to recount what would interest nobody should it come from citizen X.Mistermaumau23-07-2026
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