Without radio, Juan Ayuso takes Pogacar-like win at Drome Classic - "I never knew the gaps to Skjelmose"
Cycling
UAE Team Emirates - XRG are known for their financial abilities, top-of-the-rankings riders, some of the best talents in the world and now also long-range solo wins. Juan Ayuso started his season only one day ago, and today he went on to win the Drôme Classic with an hour-long attack all alone.
"It was a great race, I'm happy to have won it. It's the longest solo raid I've ever done, so I'm happy to have gone all the way," Ayuso said in a post-race interview. As Tadej Pogacar has done on several occasions, the Spaniard attacked on the day's main climb still far from the finish, knowing it would be the best location to make the difference.
"Even though I was the strongest, I really needed my teammates to get there. Without Isaac Del Toro's attack, it would have been harder for me to isolate myself, he did a great job." However it was still a long way to the finish in Étoile-sur-Rhône, and there was a group of many strong riders prepared to chase on.
Read also
Ayuso rode through the hilly terrain with Mattias Skjelmose chasing by himself as well, but with a peloton that simply couldn't close the gap on neither who were on a super day. Ayuso reveals that he actually had to do this without radio or guidance from the team.
"From halfway through the race, my earbuds stopped working. When I was alone in the lead, I never knew the gaps to Skjelmose, I didn't know anything," he admits. "That's why I kept asking the bike. It told me 50 seconds at one point, then I looked behind me and saw it... That's when I pushed to the maximum to distance him again, and it did it".
Ayuso has given nothing but good signs in his first weekend of racing this year. In the next few days he will be a prime contender to win the Trofeo Laigueglia, before Tirreno-Adriatico where he will have his first key test before the Giro d'Italia.
Read also
🫳🏻🎤 JUAN AYUSO WINS THE #BDA25 WITH A 40KM SOLO ATTACK 🔥
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) March 2, 2025
On just his second race day of the season, @juann_ayuso adds the Faun Drôme Classic to his Faun-Ardèche title from last year 🇫🇷
After a perfect set up from @ISAACDELTOROx1, Juan made his move and would not be caught! 👊🏼… pic.twitter.com/KaLBWErf4r
Just in
Play for FREE! Fantasy Tour of Flanders
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- As Wout said on Srava today "Things don't always go your way... but a flat white and peanut butter brownie can make up for a lot" Puts it in perspective!VgnRider04-04-2025
- Watch out Urska, I think he’s taken a liking to MVDP ;-)Mistermaumau04-04-2025
- Totally!Mistermaumau04-04-2025
- It will be interesting to see how he goes on the cobbles, so far he's looking very strong.awp04-04-2025
- if there is an actual weakness in wout even when completely healthy, it’s that he’s in his head too often. this has been pointed out many times by much more acute observers of cycling than ME, certainly. it may be that he’s been like this since he was a little kid. we are who we are. or that he was shaped by having faced van der poel SOOO many times. mvdp has zero second thoughts. he wastes no time at all on doubt. that has, in the past, led him to do some pretty insane things and make mistakes that wout would never have committed. but it also makes him a killer. you can see wout’s split seconds of doubt and hesitation everywhere in their head to head battles. those hesitations spill over into other races at times like dwars, when doubt creeps in. i believe that currently he is still coming back from physical problems due to injuries, but even when he’s full strength the mental game is an area of potential concern, AND potential improvement.OCexile03-04-2025
- Not only the public, just about every analyst and commentator had been piling it on. Under the circumstances I’d even say he’s showing real character. Not sure likeable Tadej would manage as well during a longer rough patch.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Took a while but we finally have a more nuanced analysis.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- If I remember right, it was those same hungry journalists selling us a different story less than a year ago about the bleak future of Dutch (men’s) cycling with no possible successor for MVDP ;-)Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Good, hopefully Jonas goes also so we get a nice duelvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- right? i think it’s hungry journalists that fuel this, and i understand the jam they can be in trying to create stories, but you’d hate to think ANYONE is failing to appreciate how RARE someone like van der poel is (or how LUCKY we are to have both mvdp and pog racing at the same time). a little perspective is a good thing…OCexile03-04-2025