Juan Ayuso discussion thread

[noob]

Why the fu are they interviewing him without masks???

 

[Ripper]

At least our management and others don’t care anymore. On a floor/unit level there’s of course people that care, management not so much.

Ouch! Well it is definitely not like that everywhere

 

[staubsauger]

Another reason why Ayuso really needs to deliver at the Vuelta just developed:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1811785374475395258

True. But Ayuso isn't even 1 year older than Del Torro and already has a GT podium under his belt!

Nevertheless I agree entirely with you. Hence why Ayuso should have focused 100% on the 2024 Vuelta a Espana. His season planning was just asking for problems regarding his place in UAE's pecking order.

 

[jono]

Still happens in other places. What sticks for us in the company I work for is we don’t have sick days, if we call in they just use our PTO hours. Then we can only call in sick 4 times in a rolling year before consequences start happening. Though if you’re super sick and let’s say call in today till Sunday that counts as one call in, just on the third day you need a doctors note.

USA?

 

[Landeirovic]

True. But Ayuso isn't even 1 year older than Del Torro and already has a GT podium under his belt!

Nevertheless I agree entirely with you. Hence why Ayuso should have focused 100% on the 2024 Vuelta a Espana. His season planning was just asking for problems regarding his place in UAE's pecking order.

For me Yates and Almeida have bigger chances to win the Vuelta than Ayuso...

 

[houtdffan]

Ayuso out

Not sticking around with Covid like the Vuelta 2022

 

[SHAD0W93]

Wasn’t there rumors in June that Ayuso had Covid and they were reported false?

 

[staubsauger]

For me Yates and Almeida have bigger chances to win the Vuelta than Ayuso...

A rider as limited as Almeida should be happy he ever got GT leadership at a team like UAE!

 

[KZD]

A rider as limited as Almeida should be happy he ever got GT leadership at a team like UAE!

Limited in what sense? I mean Almeida is not super versatile but he is a very good climber and a good time trialist that already finished in a Grand Tour podium and currently sits in 4th place overall at the Tour. He deserves to be a leader at the Vuelta.

Anyway, the UAE team for the Vuelta is shaping up to be even more anarchic than the Tour one, Almeia, Yates, potentially Ayuso and Del Toro with McNulty in the mix as well.

 

[Brullnux]

Anyway, the UAE team for the Vuelta is shaping up to be even more anarchic than the Tour one, Almeia, Yates, potentially Ayuso and Del Toro with McNulty in the mix as well

Dreamy

 

[noob]

Dreamy

That chaos gonna be legendary 🤣🤣🤣🤣😍

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ijk3nepXmM&pp=ygUXaXQncyBnb25uYSBiZSBsZWdlbmRhcnk%3D

 

[staubsauger]

Limited in what sense? I mean Almeida is not super versatile but he is a very good climber and a good time trialist that already finished in a Grand Tour podium and currently sits in 4th place overall at the Tour. He deserves to be a leader at the Vuelta.

Anyway, the UAE team for the Vuelta is shaping up to be even more anarchic than the Tour one, Almeia, Yates, potentially Ayuso and Del Toro with McNulty in the mix as well.

Serhiy Honchar finished 2nd at the 2004 Giro d'Italia behind Damiano Cunego. He has beaten Gilberto Simoni however by reeling him back in up towards Bormio 2000. He also was ahead of Popovych, already before the Ukrainian cracked completely.

Almeida finished 3rd at the 2024 Giro d'Italia behind grandpa Thomas and Primoz Roglic who was far from his best, apart from the Lussari MTT! Almeida reached the podium in a piss poor Giro d'Italia due to Tao Geoghegan Hart crashing and Evenepoel falling ill.

He has zero acceleration, hence can't attack and create a gap in the mountains. He can only limit his losses and hope Lady lucks adds up to reach a podium.

Ayuso got a 3rd place at the 2022 Vuelta a Espana aged 19. Benefitted from Roglic crashing out and Rodriguez injuring himself of course. But Ayuso himself struggled with Covid-19 ahead of the La Pandera stage. At the 2024 Vuelta a Espana he finished 4th after a nearly complete lackluster season that only started in late April. So he never reached full sharpness and neither development in that season. Still won on Albulapass at the Tour de Suisse however. If it wasn't for Jumbo playing shenanigans with the entire Vuelta field however by placing gc Kuss into that breakaway, Ayuso would have been 3rd again. So he kinda got the podium in 2022 already that he should have gotten in 2023. Despite Almeida being a shitty teammate like always on Angliru.

So no, Almeida doesn't deserve leadership at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana. At least not on a team like UAE. If he goes to a team like Israel or Tudor and becomes their Top 5 general classification rider, then yes. But not on UAE.

Ayuso himself however better starts praying that this Covid-19 infection won't harm him any longer. Because yes, he has to be fully prepared and needs to fulfill his potential this fall at the Vuelta a Espana. Otherwise he no longer can be described as a potential Grand Tour winner for 2025. He needs to turn this mishap into his luck now.

Almeida however isn't a potential Grand Tour winner. Neither was Serhiy Honchar!

 

[Salvarani]

Ayuso got a 3rd place at the 2022 Vuelta a Espana aged 19.

Says a lot about the level of that Vuelta. Yet it is more used to be enhance the level of another rider.

 

[staubsauger]

Says a lot about the level of that Vuelta. Yet it is more used to be enhance the level of another rider.

It's not that the level of the last 3 Giro d'Italia editions has been higher than the Vuelta a Espana.

Hindley, Carapaz, Landa. Where are they now at the Tour de France? Not even leading their teams.

We're back to where we've been 20 years ago regarding the level of the Giro d'Italia & Vuelta a Espana contenders compared to the level shown at the Tour de France by Vingegaard & Pogačar!

 

[Salvarani]

It's not that the level of the last 3 Giro d'Italia editions has been higher than the Vuelta a Espana.

Hindley, Carapaz, Landa. Where are they now at the Tour de France? Not even leading their teams.

We're back to where we've been 20 years ago regarding the level of the Giro d'Italia & Vuelta a Espana contenders compared to the level shown at the Tour de France by Vingegaard & Pogačar!

Hindley has not missed the top 10 (so far) in the GTs he has partaken and finished in since then.

Carapaz has another three podiums after that, but he is not that rider anymore.

Both shown more consistency than others...

Dont know how Landa got in there?

Yes, Vinge and Pog on another level.

 

[ingsve]

Another reason why Ayuso really needs to deliver at the Vuelta just developed:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1811785374475395258

Del Toro will not be a GC threat. I don't think he's disciplined enough to not lose time unnecessarily based on what I have seen this year.

 

[staubsauger]

Carapaz has completely fallen apart after his 2nd place at the 2022 Giro d'Italia indeed.

Of course Hindley can top 10 a Tour de France. Evenepoel however might podium this year's, unless he cracks entirely again in the Pyrenees!

Landa was 3rd at the 2022 Giro d'Italia.

I don't think the level at the Giro d'Italia has been higher than at the Vuelta a Espana in recent years.

Ayuso is under pressure. He needs to deliver. His presence at the Tour de France and the way he has ridden it before his illness actually only increased the pressure to deliver and justify his ambition. I'm pretty clear and harsh on that one.

 

[KZD]

Serhiy Honchar finished 2nd at the 2004 Giro d'Italia behind Damiano Cunego. He has beaten Gilberto Simoni however by reeling him back in up towards Bormio 2000. He also was ahead of Popovych, already before the Ukrainian cracked completely.

Almeida finished 3rd at the 2024 Giro d'Italia behind grandpa Thomas and Primoz Roglic who was far from his best, apart from the Lussari MTT! Almeida reached the podium in a piss poor Giro d'Italia due to Tao Geoghegan Hart crashing and Evenepoel falling ill.

He has zero acceleration, hence can't attack and create a gap in the mountains. He can only limit his losses and hope Lady lucks adds up to reach a podium.

Ayuso got a 3rd place at the 2022 Vuelta a Espana aged 19. Benefitted from Roglic crashing out and Rodriguez injuring himself of course. But Ayuso himself struggled with Covid-19 ahead of the La Pandera stage. At the 2024 Vuelta a Espana he finished 4th after a nearly complete lackluster season that only started in late April. So he never reached full sharpness and neither development in that season. Still won on Albulapass at the Tour de Suisse however. If it wasn't for Jumbo playing shenanigans with the entire Vuelta field however by placing gc Kuss into that breakaway, Ayuso would have been 3rd again. So he kinda got the podium in 2022 already that he should have gotten in 2023. Despite Almeida being a shitty teammate like always on Angliru.

So no, Almeida doesn't deserve leadership at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana. At least not on a team like UAE. If he goes to a team like Israel or Tudor and becomes their Top 5 general classification rider, then yes. But not on UAE.

Ayuso himself however better starts praying that this Covid-19 infection won't harm him any longer. Because yes, he has to be fully prepared and needs to fulfill his potential this fall at the Vuelta a Espana. Otherwise he no longer can be described as a potential Grand Tour winner for 2025. He needs to turn this mishap into his luck now.

Almeida however isn't a potential Grand Tour winner. Neither was Serhiy Honchar!

A lot of words to expose a clear anti-Almeida bias.

Sure he has no punch, but you say that Almeida got into the Giro 2023 podium because it was a piss poor edition and that had Lady luck on his side but what about the Giro 2022 when Almeida was on route to the podium before dropping out with covid?

Plus I will go as far as to stay that if Almeida had been the UAE leader in this year's Giro he would have likely won the race given the very high level that he showed both in Tour de Suisse and now in the Tour de France where he sits 4th overall, being well ahead of Ayuso before he dropped out sick.

You also have the facts wrong regarding the Vuelta 2022, Ayuso was not sick during Sierra de la Pandera, he had instead a puncture that cost him some 20/30 seconds and his covid diagnosis was known earlier on that week (stage 11). And while finishing on a Grand Tour podium at 19 (almost turning 20) is impressive he was still minutes behind Evenepoel in the overall unlike Almeida in last year's Giro.

For me both Ayuso and Almeida are very talented riders that deserve GT leadership as long as Pogačar is not riding however in this Tour, Almeida was showing a higher level than Ayuso and at least he was not hanging on the back when he had to work for Pogačar (so much for the shitty teammate...)

 

[staubsauger]

A lot of words to expose a clear anti-Almeida bias.

Sure he has no punch, but you say that Almeida got into the Giro 2023 podium because it was a piss poor edition and that had Lady luck on his side but what about the Giro 2022 when Almeida was on route to the podium before dropping out with covid?

Plus I will go as far as to stay that if Almeida had been the UAE leader in this year's Giro he would have likely won the race given the very high level that he showed both in Tour de Suisse and now in the Tour de France where he sits 4th overall, being well ahead of Ayuso before he dropped out sick.

You also have the facts wrong regarding the Vuelta 2022, Ayuso was not sick during Sierra de la Pandera, he had instead a puncture that cost him some 20/30 seconds and his covid diagnosis was known earlier on that week (stage 11). And while finishing on a Grand Tour podium at 19 (almost turning 20) is impressive he was still minutes behind Evenepoel in the overall unlike Almeida in last year's Giro.

For me both Ayuso and Almeida are very talented riders that deserve GT leadership as long as Pogačar is not riding however in this Tour, Almeida was showing a higher level than Ayuso and at least he was not hanging on the back when he had to work for Pogačar (so much for the shitty teammate...)

Ayuso must have been affected by illness already on Wednesday in retrospective. He cracked there and 2 days later has to abandon the race sick. Before he actually was AHEAD of Almeida. Despite having already abandoned the Dauphine while Almeida indeed had a superb buildup via the Tour de Suisse. That doesn't exactly work in Almeidas favor. The Portuguese clearly was stronger in the TT however. On a terrain that actually should have suited Ayuso.

The level of the 2022 Giro d'Italia was so low, even Romain Bardet was a major general classification contender on Blockhaus before falling ill. The same Bardet was chancless in 2023 at the Tour de Suisse & Tour de Romandie even. Despite showing up there with ambition. He was good on Granon at the 2022 Tour de France however. I admit that.

Who knows how last year's Giro d'Italia would have played out if Evenepoel & Geoghegan Hart had stayed in the race? It probably would have been aggressively ridden instead of the conservative race we saw that heavily favored a diesel climber like Almeida.

The verdict whether Ayuso is a potential Grand Tour winner still has to be spoken. It might end up being a no. But for Almeida, the answer is already there. And it is a no so far.

 

[KZD]

Ayuso must have been affected by illness already on Wednesday in retrospective. He cracked there and 2 days later has to abandon the race sick. Before he actually was AHEAD of Almeida. Despite having already abandoned the Dauphine while Almeida indeed had a superb buildup via the Tour de Suisse. That doesn't exactly work in Almeidas favor. The Portuguese clearly was stronger in the TT however. On a terrain that actually should have suited Ayuso.

The level of the 2022 Giro d'Italia was so low, even Romain Bardet was a major general classification contender on Blockhaus before falling ill. The same Bardet was chancless in 2023 at the Tour de Suisse & Tour de Romandie even. Despite showing up there with ambition. He was good on Granon at the 2022 Tour de France however. I admit that.

Who knows how last year's Giro d'Italia would have played out if Evenepoel & Geoghegan Hart had stayed in the race? It probably would have been aggressively ridden instead of the conservative race we saw that heavily favored a diesel climber like Almeida.

The verdict whether Ayuso is a potential Grand Tour winner still has to be spoken. It might end up being a no. But for Almeida, the answer is already there. And it is a no so far.

Even if Ayuso was already affected by illness on Wednesday, he was just 1 second ahead of Almeida so they were very much on the same page before stage 11.

I just don’t see how you can say that a rider that finishes only 1:15min away from winning a GT, is not a potential GT winner especially when that rider is having probably his best performances ever in 2024. Almeida is not a worse rider than Hart or Hindley and both of them won the Giro.

Of course Ayuso is also a potential GT winner though I have to say that he doesn't seem to have improved much since the 2022 Vuelta that he podiumed but at least he has time on his side.

 

[staubsauger]

Even if Ayuso was already affected by illness on Wednesday, he was just 1 second ahead of Almeida so they were very much on the same page before stage 11.

I just don’t see how you can say that a rider that finishes only 1:15min away from winning a GT, is not a potential GT winner especially when that rider is having probably his best performances ever in 2024. Almeida is not a worse rider than Hart or Hindley and both of them won the Giro.

Of course Ayuso is also a potential GT winner though I have to say that he doesn't seem to have improved much since the 2022 Vuelta that he podiumed but at least he has time on his side.

Ayuso hasn't improved at all due to last year's late season entree calling off his expected development. Hence why he needs to deliver now at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Del Toro will not be a GC threat. I don't think he's disciplined enough to not lose time unnecessarily based on what I have seen this year.

You also thought stage 11 should be softpedalled and wasn't hard enough to do anything and the break should just allowed 10 minutes up the road for fun. Del Toro is a formidable young rider which easily could top-10 or more in his first GT.

 

[staubsauger]

Isn't the Vuelta a Espana a bit more calm actually? Like they fully race out the finishes, but before positioning, crosswinds, the start etc isn't as heavy & important like in other races?

At least that's what Jens Voigt always claims.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Isn't the Vuelta a Espana a bit more calm actually? Like they fully race out the finishes, but before positioning, crosswinds, the start etc isn't as heavy & important like in other races?

At least that's what Jens Voigt always claims.

Jens Voigt has never ridden the Vuelta, so he‘s just guessing.

 

[ingsve]

You also thought stage 11 should be softpedalled and wasn't hard enough to do anything and the break should just allowed 10 minutes up the road for fun. Del Toro is a formidable young rider which easily could top-10 or more in his first GT.

Of course if he changes the way he rides then of course he has the capacity for something like that but then he has to show that first. And yes I still think it was greedy of UAE to make a race of that stage and I'll stand by that opinion.