UAE Team Emirates reveal Vuelta plans: "Tadej Pogacar will not make the Vuelta, Juan Ayuso will be our leader"

According to UAE Team Emirates staff member Joxean Fernández Matxin, Juan Ayuso will once again lead the team at the Vuelta a Espana after riding to a brilliant third-placed finish in 2022.

After the official course of the 2023 Vuelta was announced this past Tuesday, Matxin revealed any potential doubt over whether or not Ayuso could back up the success he achieved last year was immediately alleviated. "This route may suit Juan Ayuso," Matxin pondered. "It's a very mountainous course, the sprinters will be unhappy. It's clear that it will be a race for climbers, with a typical La Vuelta format, that is to say short mountain stages."

Despite his tender age, Ayuso has already proven he is more than capable of being able to hang with the big names as the road steepens and the air thins. "It's a good course for Juan Ayuso, who I hope will be an important element, both for us and for the race itself," Matxin says. "If we saw him fight for the general at 19, it is clear that we expect him to improve further, of course physically but also in terms of experience."

With Ayuso leading the UAE Team Emirates charge for the Red Jersey, Tadej Pogacar is set to return to France in an attempt to recapture the Maillot Jaune, as Matxin reveals. "Tadej will focus on the Tour de France, and we will come to the Vuelta with Juan Ayuso as the leader."