My respect for Ayuso. He has done the impossible: he beat the sheikhs at their own game. Since last year he wanted to leave, and they forbade him. Gianetti slapped a price tag of 100 million on him for any team that wanted to sign him—an absurd, unattainable figure, and one that probably goes against any labor law.
They tried to break him, even threatening not to take him to the Tour until 2028. They preferred to keep him imprisoned inside the team rather than face him as a rival outside. Meanwhile, Ayuso refused to give in: he kept winning races, even as they twisted his calendar at will. The clearest example came at the end of this season: he was preparing for the World Championships, and at the last minute they sent him to the Vuelta, unprepared and disrespected.
But Ayuso would not be tamed. He played them with their own weapons, and suddenly, what had been blocked for a year was solved in days. This wasn’t luck—it was resistance, intelligence, and character.
Because Ayuso wants his own path, his own glory. And today, with what he has achieved, it’s clear that he is not just fighting riders—he is fighting an entire system that tried to break him… and failed.
I just hope the next one to leave that team is Del Toro.