PRESS CONFERENCE | "That definitely hurts a lot, i'm lucky today is a rest day" - Juan Ayuso required 3 stitches after crash in the gravel

Juan Ayuso entered the Giro d'Italia perhaps as the main favourite alongside Primoz Roglic, but at the end of the first week we've got a much more dynamic situation. The Spaniard perhaps is in pole position to win the race, but has to contest with an impressive teammate in Isaac del Toro and a second crash in the race that has left him with three stitches in the knee.

Ayuso saved the day in the gravel, one could say, having been heavily supported by an incredible UAE Team Emirates - XRG in terms of depth. Ayuso could not avoid hitting the ground during stage 9 and was left with a wound in the knee that requires healing and recovering.

He is thankful on the rest day to be able to take the time and recover from it, whilst his easy training ride calmed down the fears of a greater injury. He recalls this Sunday's stage in which he won significant time on Primoz Roglic and also what to expect from the upcoming time-trial.

Answer: I think for a team it worked really well. I would've prefered to not crash again. I had the crash, the problem was I fell right on top of my knee where I opened the bruise and I had to have three stitches. That definitely hurts a lot, I'm lucky today is a rest day. It happened ideally on the 'best day' to happen, it's always best to happen before the rest day. Today I tried to recover from it.

Once the crash happened the race exploded and it went full gas and it was always in these small groups going to the finish, it was super hectic and quite a stressful day. I was always crossing my fingers not to get a puncture because the cars were never behind, but I think i saved the day and Isaac did an amazing day. Overall, it went quite well.

A: As I warmed up it got better, so I hope that with another day recovering it should get better. The positive thing is it's not muscular, it's purely the bone, so if it gets better it shouldn't really affect my performance because yeah it's not the muscle. It's the knee, it's the bone, so as I said, I started training today quite worried the first 15-20 minutes but when I arrived to the hotel I'm quite calm. If it gets better in training it's only the impact and nothing more serious. It's never ideal to hit the ground but I think I should be ok.