Juan Ayuso discussion thread

[Riek s]

The reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. He wins today's ITT and wears the leaders jersey in Romandie.
So is the the next Valverde? The next Contador? Next Mas?

Giving his position in the TT, he would be a lot more wel rounded than Valverda& Mas in GT.

If he can hold that position for longer TT, he has a good chance to compete with the big 4 in GT. Maybe TT qualities like vingegaard? (i'm assuming he will still grow a bit in power ofcourse, not unreasonabe given his age )

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. He wins today's ITT and wears the leaders jersey in Romandie.
So is the the next Valverde? The next Contador? Next Mas?

Juan Ayullrich!

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1651990764656766995

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1651990764656766995

 

[QueenStagiaire]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1651990764656766995

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1651990764656766995

Evenepoel is a worse TTer than Contador confirmed.

 

[Berniece]

Good to see he’s back from his injury. He’s going to be very close to a Vuelta victory this year

 

[Riek s]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1651990764656766995

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1651990764656766995

BEsides its indeed a very strange way to pull such a statistic. I'm suprised that most of them are riding now or very recently. ( or is that what he meant with randomly chosen? didn't include all riders just those 10 ).

 

[Potomac]

He is the next member of the big 6

I agree, but how many riders are in the group of six now?

But what I really came here to say is he came off well in the interview afterwards as well.

 

[Big Doopie]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1651990764656766995

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1651990764656766995

Not exactly sure what the criteria here is but Remco won several ITTs when he was barely 20.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Not exactly sure what the criteria here is but Remco won several ITTs when he was barely 20.

Criteria are GT or ‚big 7‘ stage race TTs. Remco won his first last year at the Tour de Suisse. Also he only actually won two TTs when he was 20 or younger which is not several but that‘s nitpicking.


Back to the thread‘s topic: Ayuso is surely going to compete for the win in Grand Tours very soon with that TT and the climbing he‘s already shown. If he looks good in the mountains they could think about taking him to the Tour to pressure Vingegaard with 1-2 attacks but they‘re absolutely not gonna do that because they probably don‘t want to put Ayuso into pressure situations like that this year before possibly the Vuelta.

 

[Red Rick]

Not exactly sure what the criteria here is but Remco won several ITTs when he was barely 20.

The criteria are literally in the tweet.

Evenepoel didn't win a WT ITT until Switserland last yaer, though I don't know how Euro's are categorized. Most of this is coincidental ofcourse, this TT field, especially for this course is very weak.

 

[Panda Claws]

Evenepoel fans being offended at that statistic is exactly why this forum loves to hate on them.

 

[Red Rick]

Back to the thread‘s topic: Ayuso is surely going to compete for the win in Grand Tours very soon with that TT and the climbing he‘s already shown. If he looks good in the mountains they could think about taking him to the Tour to pressure Vingegaard with 1-2 attacks but they‘re absolutely not gonna do that because they probably don‘t want to put Ayuso into pressure situations like that this year before possibly the Vuelta.

I disagree about this. I don't think Ayuso hasn't shown the climbing of a GT winner yet, and that's also more important than the TTing. The last 4 Giro's have been won by sub elite TTers.

 

[KZD]

I agree, but how many riders are in the group of six now?

But what I really came here to say is he came off well in the interview afterwards as well.

My prediction is that next year Ayuso replaces Roglic on that group.

I see him occupying a similar niche to Roglic actually. Good time trialist especially on hillier courses like today, a really good climber and with one of the best sprints among GC riders. Could win many stage races and a few classics too.

 

[Riek s]

I disagree about this. I don't think Ayuso hasn't shown the climbing of a GT winner yet, and that's also more important than the TTing. The last 4 Giro's have been won by sub elite TTers.

If all goes well, none of the 4 will compete for the vuelta. (might change with crashes). So given the others, i think it is safe to say he will compete/contend with them. (he wasn't that far of last year in vuelta compared to the others).
Winning is always hard to say unless you are really one of the current 4., but lesser riders have won a GT.

 

[Red Rick]

If all goes well, none of the 4 will compete for the vuelta. (might change with crashes). So given the others, i think it is safe to say he will compete/contend with them. (he wasn't that far of last year in vuelta compared to the others).

Roglic will likely be there, and in a better shape than last year.

Ayuso needs to be a lot stronger to win the Vuelta, and with him being as young as he is, that's not impossible.

 

[Big Doopie]

The criteria are literally in the tweet.

Evenepoel didn't win a WT ITT until Switserland last yaer, though I don't know how Euro's are categorized. Most of this is coincidental ofcourse, this TT field, especially for this course is very weak.

Tweet did NOT say World Tour. And I have never ever heard of the Big 7. Ridiculous denotation. I mean FFS is UAE tour one of them? That is an absolute zero of a race that simply put up money to the UCI.

He was 2nd at age 19 of the Worlds which says way more anyway. Particularly since few races have TTs anymore.

 

[Riek s]

Roglic will likely be there, and in a better shape than last year.

Ayuso needs to be a lot stronger to win the Vuelta, and with him being as young as he is, that's not impossible.

Ah, yeah if roglic is going its a tuff battle, but maybe it will depend on him to make the action. So we can only hope in that case

Tweet did NOT say World Tour. And I have never ever heard of the Big 7. Ridiculous.

He was 2nd at age 19 of the Worlds which says way more anyway. Particularly since few races have TTs anymore.

tweet said GT and the Big-7 1 week stage races. (you know the one which roglic almost all won). Also the tweet mentionned it took random something. So i'm guessing he just looked at a few results for that, not of every rider. Its just a feel good statistic, why be bothered about it? Tweet isn't about making him better than others in TTer, just that he did a great accomplishment for someone his age. (Live with the fact that in many statistics Remco won't show up because he hasn't participated in that many WT races by choice of QS. No need to get into a fuss about it )

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I disagree about this. I don't think Ayuso hasn't shown the climbing of a GT winner yet, and that's also more important than the TTing. The last 4 Giro's have been won by sub elite TTers.

Oh, I must have overrated him but he seems to be very similar to Pogačar and he is on a similar career trajectory. I don‘t expect him to be the new Pogačar because that would be unbelievable and ridiculous but I think any professional road cyclist still has room for improvement at age 20 and Ayuso seems in prime position to compete for Grand Tours soon. I don‘t think he can win one this year, especially after I went back and checked on his Vuelta last year where he really didn‘t show a GT winner level.

I still think Ayuso going to the Tour to mess things up in the Pyrenees could work if Pog brings his climbing legs to keep up with Vingegaard but the cost-benefit calculation isn‘t favorable there.
Also, Ayuso seems to be a good descender, I‘ve read and I hope he puts that to good use because that type of GC rider is what‘s missing from the sport at the moment.

 

[tobydawq]

I agree, but how many riders are in the group of six now?

But what I really came here to say is he came off well in the interview afterwards as well.

I didn't hear the interview but I have heard that Ayuso doesn't have the nicest reputation im the bunch. He isn't the friendliest of people is what they have said a few times on The Cycling Podcast.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Evenepoel is a worse TTer than Contador confirmed.

Hot take: Contador is criminally underrated as a Time Trialist because people like to discredit his 2009 Tour stage win for clinical reasons.

 

[Red Rick]

Oh, I must have overrated him but he seems to be very similar to Pogačar and he is on a similar career trajectory. I don‘t expect him to be the new Pogačar because that would be unbelievable and ridiculous but I think any professional road cyclist still has room for improvement at age 20 and Ayuso seems in prime position to compete for Grand Tours soon. I don‘t think he can win one this year, especially after I went back and checked on his Vuelta last year where he really didn‘t show a GT winner level.

I still think Ayuso going to the Tour to mess things up in the Pyrenees could work if Pog brings his climbing legs to keep up with Vingegaard but the cost-benefit calculation isn‘t favorable there.
Also, Ayuso seems to be a good descender, I‘ve read and I hope he puts that to good use because that type of GC rider is what‘s missing from the sport at the moment.

You don't necessarily overrate Ayusos potential, but maybe we do disagree on how to rate the level of last years Vuelta specifically. He was not close to winning last year, and I don't remember him being even the 2nd best climber on any big mountain stage last year.

As for the comparison to Pogacar. Pogacar didn't just get 3rd in 2019, he won 3 mountain stages in what was likely a stronger field, so while he was inconsistent that Vuelta, I think his Vuelta was definitely more impressive than Ayusos.

And before the 2020 Tour a lot of people were still not that high on Pogacar either.

 

[Red Rick]

Hot take: Contador is criminally underrated as a Time Trialist because people like to discredit his 2009 Tour stage win for clinical reasons.

It's not about the clinical reasons it's about the fact that his ITT just wasn't as good anymore later in his career.

 

[Netserk]

I didn't hear the interview but I have heard that Ayuso doesn't have the nicest reputation im the bunch. He isn't the friendliest of people is what they have said a few times on The Cycling Podcast.

I might just have to cheer for him then.

 

[Red Rick]

I didn't hear the interview but I have heard that Ayuso doesn't have the nicest reputation im the bunch. He isn't the friendliest of people is what they have said a few times on The Cycling Podcast.

He's been in the WT peloton 1 year so it must have made quite the impression what he did to make people say that...

 

[tobydawq]

He's been in the WT peloton 1 year so it must have made quite the impression what he did to make people say that...

Yes but I think a bit more evidence is needed. I still don't feel like I know him well enough to really make a judgment (and you could then probably say that I shouldn't have relayed what I heard on the CP).