Juan Ayuso "wants to go to the Tour in 2024 and in the team we are not going to clip his wings" - UAE discuss their youngest supertalent

Juan Ayuso wants to aim very high within cycling and the Tour de France is on his schedule for 2024. Despite teaming up with Tadej Pogacar and João Almeida, the Spaniard is keen on pursuing wins in the biggest races in the world.

"I have been with him since 2020 in his second Junior year. I suppose the others will have said the same, but it's the truth: I've seen few like him, and with his age none of him," Ayuso's coach Iñigo San Milán told Eurosport. "That he says that he is going to win this or that race is not a brag, since in personal treatment he is polite and humble; it is because he is realistic and if he says it it is because it is true. In addition, he is very intelligent and curious about performance: he always wants to know the why of things and is aware of all the training, recovery and nutrition systems; It is not just to do what we tell you."

Ayuso has suffered from a knee injury over the opening months of the season which kept him out of the peloton, returning at the Tour de Romandie where he won the time-trial. His talent against the clock has truly been revealed now, as he won the final one at the Tour de Suisse, where he also won a mountain stage but finished second in the GC as he struggled through one of the mountain stages.

"In Switzerland he has won two stages and second overall after having barely competed this year due to injury; and instead of celebrating it as the greatest success, the next day he begins to reflect on what must be done to improve the result," San Milán, who also coaches Pogacar, added. "The quality and progression is similar to that of Pogacar, even Juan achieving professional results one year less than Tadei did. For us it is better that they are both in the team instead of having one of them as a rival. If he can prepare for the 2023 Vuelta without problems, he is one of the favorites to win it, whoever is in other teams."

His goal will be the same of 2022, but arguably Ayuso will be better prepared to fight for the red jersey, whilst João Almeida should join him and provide for a very strong lineup capable of wining a Grand Tour. For a few years already his talent was undeniable, and he made his debut with UAE Team Emirates still as an 18-year old. As a 19-year old he took his first pro win at the Circuit de Getxo and then rode to third on his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta.

"I have been dealing with young cyclists of the highest quality for almost thirty years before they became professionals, suffice it to say Cancellara or Freire, but Juan's is extraordinary from the mental aspect," Joxean Matxín added. "Having things so clear and that ambition since he was a child is his great asset. It is not arrogance, it is so clear because it is reality. Due to his quality, he could have already been in the team since the beginning of 2021 in the best races; but I wanted him to spend half a season in the Italian U23 squad, where there is tremendous competitiveness and he goes to the knife in very crazy races."

Although he's only 20 years old, he's already well consolidated in the World Tour peloton, and as a winner. Geraint Thomas, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic are all expected to take part in the Vuelta a Espana too, meaning that he will have no lack of competition to truly test him.

"He came from sweeping lower categories based on engine, without the need to go "filing" in the peloton or team tactics. He learned this in that period and when he won the Giro Sub23 against riders several years older and with a lot of experience, it was clear that from the first races with UAE in the second part of the season he was going to be in front of them. And that was confirmed and improved in 2022, culminating in the podium in the Vuelta."

Although he's following a calm evolution, clearly there is intent to ride the Tour de France right away eyeing success. Matxín confirms the communication between him and the team. "He will have already told you that he wants to go to the Tour in 2024 and in the team we are not going to clip his wings. If we see that he is prepared to go ahead, he will go; We are not going to take him 'to get to know the Tour' but to be with Pogacar ahead in the general classification."

"If we don't see him prepared, he will take another year and he could go to the Giro, of course to try to win it. Juan is not a cyclist with whom to apply that of going to the races to see how it goes, but because of his quality and ambition he goes out to win them," he concluded.