Tadej Pogacar frustrated with Juan Ayuso's withdrawal: "It's unfortunate. He was going to be important in the mountains"

Stage 13 of the Tour de France 2024 was a hard blow for UAE Team Emirates. Juan Ayuso had to abandon the race after testing positive for COVID-19 and was unable to keep the pace in the first kilometers of the day. This is bad news for race leader Tadej Pogacar who needs every bit of help to win this Tour.

Ayuso was one of the men who came to the Tour to be key in Tadej Pogacar's fight to win the Grande Boucle. The Spaniard joined João Almeida and Adam Yates as the three main domestiques with whom the Slovenian would fight against Jonas Vingegaard's Visma - Lease a Bike. Although he only worked on the Col du Galibier, the Tour has only ridden through one of the several high mountain stages that are outlined on the 21 days of racing.

Just one day before the key high mountains of the Pyrenees, the withdrawal of Juan Ayuso could not have affected UAE's plans more and Pogacar, who, in statements after the stage, did not hesitate to show his frustration at the Spaniard's departure: "It's very unfortunate that he had to abandon," the Slovenian began.

"Juan was one of the riders who, on paper, was going to be very important in the mountains. Fortunately João [Almeida] and Adam [Yates] are doing very well in the climbs. The other riders in the team are also doing well. We are growing as a group. Even with one rider down, we are strong," added Pogacar, showing his confidence in the rest of the UAE team, who still have to give their all for victory.

About the stage, after showing his annoyance for Juan Ayuso's abandonment, Tadej Pogacar talked about how intense it was. He responded to Visma's attacks in the crosswind successfully, and even sprinted to ninth at the end of the day in search of some bonifications. It was a good day for UAE in this sense, as Adam Yates was part of the day's breakaway and forced Visma to spent large amounts of manpower to control the day.

"We thought it was going to be chaotic at the end, but we didn't expect this. It was good that Adam Yates was in front, it meant we didn't have to work with him ourselves."

Despite not being able to count on Juan Ayuso, Pogacar was very confident about the two stages on Saturday and Sunday in the Pyrenees: "I'm really looking forward to the climb. Before the Tour, I didn't know which climbs to do, but now that I know, I'm happy. They are climbs that suit me".