Juan Ayuso discussion thread

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Sep 4, 2017
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Curious how much they are bending over backwards to accommodate Ayuso wanting all the races and leaderships right away when Jan Christen who I thought was nailed on to ride La Vuelta this year will have gone 2 full years in the world tour without a debut GT as will Morgado and both were, and still are, regarded as significant talents.
 
Jun 20, 2015
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Curious how much they are bending over backwards to accommodate Ayuso wanting all the races and leaderships right away when Jan Christen who I thought was nailed on to ride La Vuelta this year will have gone 2 full years in the world tour without a debut GT as will Morgado and both were, and still are, regarded as significant talents.

UAE have enough trouble getting their riders to perform as a team when Pogacaar is unavailable and you want to bring the worst culprit of riding for yourself in christen.
 
Jul 7, 2013
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UAE have enough trouble getting their riders to perform as a team when Pogacaar is unavailable and you want to bring the worst culprit of riding for yourself in christen.

Almeida vs Ayuso can get really interesting. Let's just say that an exemplary cooperation shouldn't be expected :p
 
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May 6, 2021
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Christen is a great rider, though he also seems to be a bit of a 'free spirit' in the Ayuso mould. Morgado I've no idea, massive ceiling but seems to burn brightly then vanish, he was the same when he was younger.
 
Apr 12, 2025
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Curious how much they are bending over backwards to accommodate Ayuso wanting all the races and leaderships right away when Jan Christen who I thought was nailed on to ride La Vuelta this year will have gone 2 full years in the world tour without a debut GT as will Morgado and both were, and still are, regarded as significant talents.
Jan Christen?
Why not bring McNulty to the Vuelta as well while we're at it?

Like having Ayuso, Jay Vine and Marc "free from Pogi in the Vuelta" Soler wasn't enough.
 
Apr 13, 2025
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Curious how much they are bending over backwards to accommodate Ayuso wanting all the races and leaderships right away when Jan Christen who I thought was nailed on to ride La Vuelta this year will have gone 2 full years in the world tour without a debut GT as will Morgado and both were, and still are, regarded as significant talents.
Ayuso's mistreatment in UAE is a false narrative. Few riders in the peloton have had more opportunities in GT than he has at that age. The fourth GT in which he will be the leader. He's also led one-week races.

Christen was very excited at the beginning of the year about making his GT debut. Now he'll be disappointed. Morgado also said he would debut this year.
 

Rou

Mar 20, 2024
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So what is the plan for Juanito?
He is not scheduled for Pologne. Maybe they will add him at the last moment in Burgos?
 
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Sep 5, 2016
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Ayuso being a generous guy helping his young teammates to good results just means its going to be even funnier when he does absolutely nothing for Almeida.
You have to wonder if they shopped him!? Movistar going with new blood, Wanty- Lotto sound like a merge, Soudal Quickstep look like roster is going away from stage race objectives, and Pogacar had previously really leaned into racing the Vuelta, Ayuso acting a little put out by all the attention that wasn't be paid to him..Pog did the team a solid by opening the schedule for Vuelta. No costly drama
 
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Apr 13, 2025
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I'm starting to think Ayuso's problem is that she developed too young and has reached her peak. Despite being young, it doesn't look like she's going to improve much further.
 
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Apr 13, 2025
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I’m so glad I didn’t start that Pablo Torres thread. Won’t make it off page 1 of the thread at this point
I think Pablo Torres is going to be a worse cyclist than Ayuso.

Although Ayuso doesn't seem likely to win a GT, or at most a Vuelta like Valverde, he's a rider who has won one-week races without the big favorites.

He's a Valverde type, but worse than him. He's good in some one-day and week-long races without the best, but he struggles in GTs and in a races with the big six level.

It will be interesting to see how far cyclists like Seixas progress, having been on professional teams like Decathlon from a very young age.
Perhaps they reach their peak level so young that they will not evolve as much as is believed.
When Pogacar won his first races with Lubjiana, they didn't even have time trial bikes...
 
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Jul 1, 2015
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Ayuso has said he and the team knew he wasn't fit to contest GC when he was asked to do the Vuelta.
I have read some rumours/conspiracy theories about Unipublic designing a silly easy route to attract Pogacar, and then when UAE confirmed Pogacar's not racing, Unipublic asked them to bring Ayuso.
 
Jul 8, 2017
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Ayuso has said he and the team knew he wasn't fit to contest GC when he was asked to do the Vuelta.
I have read some rumours/conspiracy theories about Unipublic designing a silly easy route to attract Pogacar, and then when UAE confirmed Pogacar's not racing, Unipublic asked them to bring Ayuso.

To be honest that sounds somehow plausible.
With Carlos Rodriguez out, Mas...they probably knew he isn't likely to start and Landa questionable, I wouldn't be surprised if that's true.
 
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Aug 3, 2015
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Ayuso has said he and the team knew he wasn't fit to contest GC when he was asked to do the Vuelta.
I have read some rumours/conspiracy theories about Unipublic designing a silly easy route to attract Pogacar, and then when UAE confirmed Pogacar's not racing, Unipublic asked them to bring Ayuso.
This is not a silly, easy route. Its not a great route, but its not really an easy one either.

Ayuso got the call up more or less 4 weeks before the start right after the Tour. Considering that he should be in a decent shape in late July going into the second part of the season anyways, regardless of Vuelta or no Vuelta, this is just some *** and crybaby stuff from Juan. Guy literally begged to be on the team, Pog went on to not doing the race, he gets the call and now he blames the team again. What a clown! You know this always would be an opportunity that you get selected due to injuries and Pog changing his mind, so what he's saying is he spent more time in the media complaining and crying than acting like a professional and preparing for the second part of the season. If he actually had the cojones, he'd blame Pogacar because thats literally the reason his participation was up in the air, but thats not gonna happen and that would make no sense anyways - the only one to blame is himself for not preparting sufficiently and then throwing a fit.

I really hope this guy finds another team. I was a fan in 2022, but man he's insufferable and ecocentric. Can't wait to read what mou says on X!