Juan Ayuso has flatly denied speculation that he might leave the Vuelta a España after his searing criticisms of team management before stage 10 of the race.
Before stage 10, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG racer slammed team management for allegedly breaking of an unwritten agreement not to reveal he was ending his contract through to 2028 early and leaving the squad at the end of the year. UAE management have denied his claims.
But after a stage start marked by the massive row that has eclipsed much of the interest in the Vuelta as a race, Ayuso said it had been "business as usual" during the race.
The 22-year-old provided some early mountain support for his teammate Almeida on the final climb and then rode across the line in 87th place, more than 13 minutes down, and calmly talked to reporters for several minutes before heading back to the waiting team bus.
Asked directly if he had thought of quitting the Vuelta given all the external turmoil, Ayuso said that option was never on the table.
"No, never," he said. "That's a discussion that's come through the media. The other day [on stage 9 - Ed.] I wasn't feeling well and when you don't feel well you can't really help."
Ayuso did tell Eurosport, however, that the background tension surrounding his possible exit from UAE Team Emirates-XRG had contributed to his decision not to race as an overall contender in the Vuelta, because it had made it difficult to stay focussed.
After UAE won the TTT on stage 5 Ayuso had come within eight seconds of the leader's jersey, but he then shed nearly eight minutes on top race favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) the following day at Andorra and with it any chance of an overall bid.
“It’s difficult, that's another reason why I’m not doing the GC,” Ayuso said.
“Of course, it’s all come out now, but this has been going on for two months in the background. It’s difficult, but as I said I’m just happy that all the turmoil is over."
The circumstances had made it a "strange day", he recognised, but on the plus side UAE had snapped up their fourth stage win of the race - and second with Jay Vine - and Ayuso said he was glad about that, particularly as Vine is a good friend of his.
Back in the GC group, meanwhile, Ayuso did a medium-sized turn at the bottom of the climb that brought the squad up to breakaway teammate Mikkel Bjerg.
“Without a doubt, I was going much better than I was the stage before the rest day," Ayuso recognised. "João was feeling good, he was asking me to push, and I did. I rode until we caught up to Mikkel Bjerg. We rode well as a team and I think it went pretty well for us.”
While Almeida said afterwards that he had not wanted Vine to drop back too, saying simply "It wasn't worth it", Ayuso said that he would be delighted if he could be part of a victorious Vuelta team with the Portuguese rider.
“It would be great if Almeida could win. With Tadej’s Tour" - in 2024 when Pogačar won for a third time - "I had to pull out and I couldn’t celebrate in Paris, so it would be nice to do that in Madrid."
Given Almeida had just finished a hard mountain stage, he could be forgiven for forgetting that the 2024 Tour actually finished in Nice, not Paris. But in any case, after the news had finally emerged about his leaving UAE, despite the internal and external team ructions, Ayuso said could now concentrate much harder on the Vuelta - and what was to come in 2026.
"It's been hard sometimes to enjoy the race, but we have to keep on going and I'm glad everything is starting to come to an end," he concluded.
"Now I can start focussing on the race, helping my teammates or trying to go for a win and next year will be a new chapter in my life. For sure I will enjoy it."
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