A furious Juan Ayuso has accused his team of being "more like a dictatorship" after the announcement that he would be leaving UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the end of the season was published unexpectedly on the Vuelta a España rest-day.
On Monday evening, the team sent a press release confirming that Ayuso, 22, and UAE Team Emirates-XRG had reached an agreement to end his contract through to 2028 early, and he would be leaving at the end of the year.
However, speaking at the start of stage 10 of the Vuelta on Tuesday, Ayuso then accused the team management of reneging on an unwritten agreement that the news of his exit would only be made official after the Vuelta ends on September 14.
Talking to reporters assembled outside the UAE team bus, Ayuso said that he had only received half an hour's warning that his departure would be made public, via 'friendly media.'
"We'd made an agreement that it would come out after the Vuelta was over," Ayuso said, "so it wouldn't affect things in the team at all on a sporting level during the race and not to affect any of the riders.
"The fact that it's come out during the rest day is something that you'll have to ask them [management] about, why they did it so suddenly and without any advance warning.
"I think that it's clear why they've done it, to try and harm my image again."
Speaking separately at the start, when asked about Ayuso in general, UAE Team Emirates-XRG manager Joxean Fernández Matxin defended the team's decision to publish the press release, telling the media that "you people were asking the same question [about Ayuso's exit] every day, and every day it came round again, and you are the example. So instead of hiding it all or not saying anything, better to say it and be transparent about it. Nothing more than that."
Matxin pointed out that Ayuso had a contract until the end of the year, and did his best to play down the massive media storm.
"These are circumstances and things that happen in life. You know how much I appreciate Juan but it was organised, talked over and agreed together.
"He's our rider until December, and we'll try and work things out and do things the best we can. I can't do anything but wish him all the best because he's a great rider."
The massive drama follows hard on the heels of the controversy that emerged at the end of stage 9 when Ayuso's teammate João Almeida said he had been isolated during the finale, where he lost time to arch-favourite Jonas Vingegaard when the Visma-Leasa a Bike rider launched a surprise attack.
Ayuso, already dropped when Vingegaard attacked and therefore unable to assist Almeida, also accused the team of "taking advantage of the statement made by Almeida, something for which he's apologized, he agreed with me about what actually happened.
"I wasn't going well that day, and he's understood that. But when lack of respect is shown one time and another by the team. It's very difficult to maintain that union and for things to be completely integrated."
Ayuso said he would continue to race the Vuelta despite the ongoing row.
"But more out of respect for my teammates and because things have been so good with them during all these years, I want to finish this Vuelta a España as best I can, and I'm very happy that you [the media] now know what's going on.
"Next year will be a new start with a new squad, and I'm happy [about that]," he said.
Matxin insisted for his part that, "The atmosphere in the team is good. But this [Almeida's exit] is news, and you have to produce a communiqué at some point, and you have to face up to that.
"But the team is still exactly the same and we're going to continue racing in exactly the same way."
A rider at UAE since 2021, Ayuso started the race as co-GC leader with Almeida. However, he then lost time and all hope of a good overall performance on the stage to Andorra, before bouncing back in spectacular style with a lone win at Cerler.
UAE is now dependent wholly on Almeida, currently 37 seconds down on arch-favourite Vingegaard, for their options in the overall battle for the Vuelta. But the current situation with Ayuso is overshadowing both Almeida's performance and, up to a point, the entire race.
In the two remaining weeks of the Vuelta, Ayuso said, "the relationship with Almeida, and my teammates is good, and he deserves all the support from me that he can get, and the same goes for my six other teammates."
"I'd have liked for things to have ended well with the team, and during all the negotiations before the Vuelta, that's what we tried to do.
"But at times, you can't do that when it's more like a dictatorship and an exercise of power over me.
"I don't understand why they did it like that, and in the half hour I had before the communiqué was published, I said I didn't agree with it, and they said that the first draft of the communiqué they'd done was even worse, and I'd just have to be happy with that."
Matxin meanwhile simply said that they were trying to look ahead at the race, and specifically the stage finish at the Cat.1 summit fin Larra-Belagua. "It could be a day for the break or for the overall or both, but first of all, we need to see what happens with the break, and Visma will decide that."
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