'Juan Ayuso remains the reference point' – Spain's new generation of riders coming through fast, but young Lidl-Trek racer still the top name to watch

As the European season gets underway in Spain, a new generation of Spanish riders is coming through to try and make their mark, with riders like 22-year-old National Champion Iván Romeo (Movistar) very much amongst their number.

Now in his fourth season, Romeo had a breakthrough 2025, following up his victory in the World Championships under-23 time trial in 2024 with a spectacular solo stage win of the Critérium du Dauphiné last year and then another lone triumph a few weeks later at the Spanish Nationals.

However, while Spanish interest will logically be high in seeing how far Romeo can push the bar in 2026, it will likely be even higher elsewhere. The ongoing achievements of Juan Ayuso, coupled with his dramatic switch to the Lidl-Trek team from UAE Team Emirates, mean the 2022 Vuelta a España podium finisher – at 19, the second youngest in the race's history - and 2025 Tirreno-Adriatico winner remains the top young Spanish rider to watch this season.

"There's a very promising group of young riders coming through, but they are still eclipsed by Ayuso," Fernando Ferrari, a longstanding Spanish cycling journalist and editor of the specialist website Ciclo21, tells Cyclingnews.

"Ayuso's still only 23, so he can qualify for the Tour's Best Young Rider classification, and he's still on an upward curve."

Others to watch Spain's younger generations, says Ferrari, are Haimar Etxebarría (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), formed in the Kern Pharma team and its feeder squad, and now progressing under the close eye of fellow Basque and Red Bull sports director Patxi Vila. Meanwhile, Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), a double Vuelta stage winner in 2024 and, like Etxeberría, a former Kern Pharma racer, could well impact in 2026, too.

This season should also see whether Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), previously touted as a major new Spanish hope alongside Ayuso, but whose career has been blighted by injuries, can finally put his career back on track this year.

That's just in the men's side of the sport. 22-year-old Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) already had a brilliant first year in the pros, taking five one-day races, including a stage of the Tour de Romandie as well as the U23 European Championships road race and a bronze in the U23 World Championships equivalent event. She has already followed that up with third overall in the Tour Down Under in 2026.

Then the newest kid on the block on the elite women's side is Paula Ostiz (Movistar), whose spectacular run of success at Junior level last autumn – a silver medal in the Worlds Junior TT followed by three gold medals in the World Championships road race and both European titles - precedes her first year as a racer.

"The jump from Junior to Elite is a big one, and we'll see how she adapts to the new category," Ferrari added. "For example, Cat Ferguson" – already the winner of a race in Mallorca this season at 19 – "managed it very well. But maybe we'll have to give Ostiz some time to progress. For now, Blasi is the one to watch the closest."

As for Romeo, already fourth in the European season-opening Classica Camp de Morvedre on Friday, he will be taking part in all five of the Challenge Mallorca events before going on to the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie, Critérium du Dauphiné, Tour de Suisse and Tour de France. Then in the second half of the season, he'll be at the World Championships.

Regarding what he hopes to achieve, "It's very difficult to know," he told AS in a recent interview.

"Obviously, I've got better, but everybody's getting a lot better these days.

"I've got some unfinished business with the Tour" - where he had a bad crash, but still made it to Paris - "so I want to try and win a stage, that'll be the big goal of the year. Anything after that would be a bonus."

Gaining experience at this stage is vital, and Romeo already got "a heck of a lot out of the Tour already. It's much more of a rollercoaster than I imagined."

"I'm very consistent, I don't tend to have too many bad days, but the Tour is something else. You're not 'you', you're another person; the Tour changes you completely. I hope this year I can improve a lot more."

"The crash I had was the only one I had in the whole of 2025, so I can't blame myself even if I am a real perfectionist."

Romeo recounted to AS that he had had a "really bad time of it" in the stage over the Loze in the Alps, and he was "fed up to the back teeth with everything."

"I had some muscular problems, and I was in a bad place, really close to abandoning. I was so sick of everything, I just wanted to get to Paris." As a result, he was inattentive during a storm, took a curve "way too fast" and fell heavily."

He still reached Paris, though, and is now looking for new challenges in 2026.

"I'm just hoping I don't have any serious injuries, that my brother" – Sergio, racing with Kern Pharma's devo team – "doesn't have any either, and we'll handle the rest," he said confidently.

Meanwhile, Ferrari is more convinced that Ayuso is the rider who will keep the flame flying in the Grand Tours.

"Right now, I don't see anybody in Spain who's capable of reaching Ayuso's level one day in Grand Tours. Romeo's more for time trials, one-day races, stages and so on," he told Cyclingnews.

"But saying that, I felt the same way about Miguel Indurain back in the day before he started winning, so who knows?"