"The only luck is that Juan Ayuso and Carlos Rodriguez are young" - Spanish legend believes Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel can be matched in the future

Not so many years ago, Spain was sweeping everything in the world of cycling, especially in the grand tours. Between the 2006 Tour de France and the 2015 Giro d'Italia, it was the country with the most victories led by the seven of Alberto Contador, we cannot forget the victories of Oscar Pereiro and Carlos Sastre in the French race and that of Alejandro Valverde in the 2009 Vuelta a España.

However, it will be a decade since no Spanish cyclist has won a grand tour. Several have come close, such as Enric Mas, Mikel Landa, Juan Ayuso or Carlos Rodríguez, but at the same time they have remained far away. The latter two seem to be the most likely to break this bad streak, at least in terms of age.

This is what Perico Delgado recently told Agencia EFE. The rider from Segovia is one of those riders who have triumphed in the three-week stage races, with a victory in the Tour de France and two in the Vuelta.

"There is a generation of riders who have made a plug at the top because they are so young. However, they have a lot of ambition, like Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, Danish Jonas Vingegaard or Belgian Remco Evenepoel. The only luck is that Juan Ayuso and Carlos Rodriguez are young," the Spanish former pro said. 

"Maybe not next year and maybe not the year after: I myself took five years to win the Tour for various reasons. There are two riders that we have to see how they respond in 2025, Juan Ayuso and Carlos Rodríguez. These two riders have a lot of potential but to think of them winning with the current riders seems very difficult," he admitted.

And the reality is that he is not wrong, Ayuso and Rodriguez have great potential, they are very good, but it seems that they are still far from the riders that are climbing at the highest level currently. Therefore, we will see if in the future they will be able to take advantage of some opportunity or if some other talent will emerge that is up to the level of the best - as is potentially the case with youngster Pablo Torres who has just signed a long-term contract with UAE Team Emirates.