The gloves are off! Ayuso blasts UAE as "dictatorship" in incredible rant

Juan Ayuso has turned his Vuelta a España into a battleground with UAE Team Emirates - XRG, after an announcement about his departure caught him off guard during the rest day. Before the start of stage ten, the Spaniard unloaded on his team, accusing management of acting behind his back. He said the decision to go public early was a deliberate attempt to damage his image. The fallout has turned into one of the most dramatic stories of this year’s race.

Ayuso explained that the plan had been to keep everything quiet until the end of the Vuelta, only to be informed minutes before the news broke. “I want to say that I do not agree with the team's statement, yesterday the statement came out at 7 o'clock, I was notified at half past six, when there were journalists with whom I have a good relationship who had told me that they had been told that at lunchtime the statement was going to come out, the statement we had agreed that it was going to be made public when the Vuelta was over so as not to harm anything sporting or the environment or any teammate, that it came out yesterday is a question you have to ask them, why so sudden and without prior notice.”

"I don't understand why UAE issued the statement without warning. They want to damage my image. I've suffered one disrespect after another from the team's management. It's been a dictatorship.

He went further, suggesting the move was calculated. “I obviously know why they have done it, to try to damage my image again, as in the communiqué, with which I do not agree. They talk about values and union and these are things that I also agree with. Evidently yesterday they also took advantage of some unfortunate words of Almeida, which I have spoken to Joao and he has apologized to me, because he agrees with what happened.

"I want to help, the other day it was not right, he understood that. But, of course, when there is one disrespect after another on the part of the team management, it also becomes difficult to unite and want to integrate. I, out of respect for my teammates and how good I've been these years, I'd like to finish the Vuelta a España in the best way and I'm very happy that you already know that, next year is going to be very nice, a new beginning. I'm happy.”

Despite the turmoil, Ayuso emphasised his bond with the riders in the team, even with Almeida. “I think the relationship with my teammates, including Almeida, no matter how much we talk, is good and he deserves all the support I can give him, also all the work of all the other six members, except Almeida, they deserve that I contribute what I can contribute and that's what I can try to do. I would have liked to finish well with the team, that's what we tried to do with the negotiation before the Vuelta, to finish well, but it seems that sometimes it's not possible, when it's more like a dictatorship and a unilateral thing of power over you.”

Ayuso closed his outburst by revealing his final conversation with UAE, where his objections were brushed aside. “That's what you have to ask them, because yesterday I didn't know anything until half past six, it had been agreed that the communiqué would come out when the Vuelta was over so as not to affect me or any of my teammates, that it would be done yesterday in half an hour without prior notice. In the half hour I had I said that I did not agree with what was said in the communiqué and they told me that the first communiqué they had written was much worse and that I had to be happy with it.”