'I'm back at my normal level' - Juan Ayuso bounces back from Vuelta a España GC setback with stunning solo mountain stage win

Probably the most telling question Juan Ayuso had to face after finishing off a 160-kilometre breakaway on stage 7 of the Vuelta a España with a stunning solo victory on the slopes of Cerler was the one of the simplest: "Juan", one journalist asked him, "It's not really clear to me - are you in good shape, or aren't you?"

The question referred to the two, seemingly utterly contradictory performances by Ayuso on the Vuelta's two biggest mountain stages to date.

On stage 6 to Andorra's summit finish at Alp, Ayuso lost nearly eight minutes to the overall favourites and with it, all chance of overall victory. Then 24 hours later, the 22-year-old was able to conquer one of the Vuelta's hardest days in the Pyrenees this year on stage 7, in the process clinching both his first-ever victory in his home Grand Tour as well as taking UAE's third stage win in succession.

It wasn't just Friday's win in itself that saw Ayuso swing from one extreme performance-wise to another. There was how he did it, too.

His victory was forged right from the start of stage 7 when the race left Andorra, first by going solo and fending off a pursuit by Visma-Lease a Bike on the 24 kilometre-long slopes of Cantó, then by working in a 13-rider break to stay clear over two Cat.2 climbs, and finally by dropping the rest of the attackers to go with 11 kilometres to go.

Even without the disastrous ride on Thursday to Pal, a performance like that would have been remarkable enough.

Responding to the journalist's question, Ayuso explained that his radical change in the results sheet was all to do with the way he had built up to the Vuelta, which essentially was geared towards successful single-day performances, but not an overall GC battle.

"Today I did feel good, but it's what I've been saying from day one here in the Vuelta," he said.

"I haven't been able to prepare the Vuelta in the way I'd like to" - he was a late call-up after teammate Tadej Pogačar's post-Tour de France decision not to participate - "and I wasn't ready to fight for the overall in a three-week stage race.

"But when the team called me [to take part], I explained how I was going, and we went ahead. I tried, out of respect, to get through and see if I could change things around. I wasn't convinced I could do it, but I did what I could."

The result was plain to see on Thursday's major time loss - but it was also clear from the way Ayuso won on Friday that when it came to single-day efforts, his condition is borderline perfect and he certainly doesn't rule out repeat top performances, either.

"From here on, I want to try and recover each day as best I can, because that's the best strategy I can have for the Worlds, although we'll see if it works out," Ayuso said.

"But that's the important thing - not to go deep on the days I wasn't in the break or when the team doesn't need me, so I can recover for the Worlds. And if I lose time, then it's not such a big deal."

Back to the top

Ayuso's return to strength at Cerler was deeply reminiscent of Remco Evenepoel in the 2023 Vuelta, when the Belgian first lost nearly 20 minutes on the stage to the Tourmalet, only to bounce back with a vengeance the next day for a solo win on the Pyrenean summit finish of Larra Belagua.

For Evenepoel, victory on the Belagua represented a return to his usual self - the Soudal-QuickStep racer said later that his wife Oumi had inspired him by saying 'Champions answer with the pedals' And for Ayuso, after his crash out and abandon from the Giro d'Italia, his big goal of the season, Friday's success on home soil was proof he was back in top shape.

"It's been a difficult period," he confirmed, "Lots of things have happened and since the Giro it was hard for me to train well, particularly as I was not building towards this Vuelta, but towards the Worlds.

"I'd say that since the Giro, I've never really had a period where I felt I was in really great shape. It's inevitable in the kind of cycling we have now, where so much importance is given to data and numbers, you can have some doubts."

"But I took things calmly, I know that it's all part of a process, that you have to go through tough times to get to where you want.

"And today I did have a good day, and I'm happy to have my usual feelings when I race again, and get back to the level I know I have. So I want to keep going in that direction, because there are lots of other stages with good opportunities for me, and then after that, there's the Worlds."

His previous high position in the overall, running second to Vingegaard at just eight seconds before Thursday's major time loss, had continued to have some effect in the way he had to race to get his first stage win, he explained. Essentially, being viewed as a GC favourite - until Thursday - meant that he had to break away alone from the peloton and manage to stay away, in order to be sure he could have a chance.

"Visma didn't want to let me in the break, so I had to do the first hour alone, because I knew they wouldn't let me get in the break in a usual way.

"So I suffered in the first hour, but I knew I had to get over the top of the Cantó so I would be sure of staying away. If I hadn't done that, then I wouldn't have been able to go for the win."

Other motivations?

Ayuso initially refused to comment on why he had put his fingers in his ears as a victory salute, saying, "I think it speaks for itself." When asked about it for a second time, and if he had heard criticisms about his below-expectations performance on Thursday, and whether his 'I can't hear you' gesture was a reaction to that, he seemingly confirmed that it was indeed the case.

"I'm a person who doesn't look too hard at social media, because I try to stay on the edge of all that, but there are things [comments] that get through to you, and then there's that's what most reaches you when people shout at you from the roadsides," he said.

"One of the great things about cycling is it's a sport that is mostly about fans out there showing support for everybody in the good times and the bad. So when they shout [bad] stuff at you from the roadside, it's not that it hurts, but I don't think that cycling is like that."

As a result of that, he said, "That's why I always try to focus on my own actions and what I can do, and that's what I was trying to do, be the best version of myself." And on Friday at Cerler, that best version was certainly on display, for fans and critics alike, to see for themselves. Like Evenepoel in the 2023 Vuelta, Ayuso had provided his answer to all the questions with his pedals.

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