Juan Ayuso’s supposed reluctance to work for Tadej Pogačar on the Col du Galibier on stage 4 of the Tour de France was very visibly flagged by the gesticulating of his teammate João Almeida, but the Spaniard has insisted there are “no problems” within the UAE Team Emirates squad.
Almeida performed a key role in teeing up Pogačar’s eventual attack on the Galibier, but 3km from the summit, he turned and called for assistance from Ayuso, who was tucked near the back of the reduced front group.
Ayuso heeded the call shortly afterwards, taking the reins from Almeida. Pogačar would later forge clear in the final kilometre of the Galibier to take both the stage victory and the yellow jersey, while Ayuso sprinted to third place over the other side in Valloire, which leaves him in fourth place overall, 1:10 behind.
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Speaking at the start of stage 5 in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne on Wednesday, Ayuso downplayed the significance of his shouted exchange with Almeida.
“Within the team, things are calm, there are no problems,” Ayuso said, according to AS. “It's true that sometimes these gestures are unnecessary, and yesterday they were unnecessary, but it is what it is.”
Ayuso’s view of the incident echoed that of Pogačar during his press conference on Tuesday evening. “You know when you go full gas, even if you just want to say to one of the guys, 'I love you', you need to shout,” Pogačar joked.
On Wednesday morning, UAE Team Emirates sports manager Matxin Joxean Fernandez explained that the headwind on the Galibier meant his team had deviated from the usual tactic of having riders swing off after taking long turns on the front. Instead, Almedia, Ayuso and Adam Yates looked to share the workload by swapping turns. “In the headwind it was better not to have long pulls and to change for the recovery,” Matxin said.
Sports director Andrej Hauptman dismissed the idea that Ayuso had been looking to his own GC aspirations by settling in at the back of the group, insisting that his position had come about by chance rather than by design.
“No, this is racing,” Hauptman told Cyclingnews. “All are fighting for position, there is always someone a bit behind. This is cycling.
“We did the debrief as normal. There was nothing to say. All the guys agreed we did an amazing job.”
Although Ayuso just 20 seconds off a podium place, both Hauptman and Matxin insisted that the team’s sole focus is on claiming the yellow jersey in Nice with Pogačar. A repeat of last year, when Adam Yates joined Pogačar on the podium in Paris, is not in the team’s plans.
“When Tadej needs other riders, even when they are high in GC, they will always help,” said Hauptman.
“No, it’s only one leader,” Matxin confirmed. “We ride for Tadej. The only focus is to ride for Tadej.”
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