5th-place Ayuso fears an all-or-nothing attempt in the Tour de France: 'The same goes for Seixas, Del Toro, or anyone else'

Juan Ayuso was one of the surprises in the general classification during the first two weeks of the Tour de France. Sadly, there’s little sign of that form in the third and final week. The Spaniard from Lidl-Trek has already indicated that he’s far from his best form and now wants to go all out in the final stretch. Ayuso realises that he could still fall completely out of contention. “If that happens, it won’t be a disaster.”

The Javea-born climber wore the white jersey early on, but had to hand it over to Paul Seixas after the stage to Le Markstein and slipped even further down the standings in stage fifteen. The third week also got off to a slow start, with significant time lost in the time trial. Following the withdrawals of Vingegaard and Lipowitz, Ayuso now finds himself in fifth place, two and a half minutes off the podium.

The Spaniard has already complained about his poor form, but remains optimistic ahead of the grueling three-stage stretch in the Alps. To that end, he seems to be gearing up for an all-or-nothing attempt. “Both Skjelmose and I are in a position where we can’t fall much further behind, and if that happens, well, it’s not the end of the world,” EsCiclismo reported.

"We have to try to make progress, but to do that, we also need the strength," Ayuso continued. "We’ll see what situations arise tomorrow and whether we can take advantage of them. I think the next stages will be decided by attrition, and I believe there could be a few major breakaways—and I count myself among them."

Because, as the Spaniard knows: “I could also falter and lose a lot of time, but the same goes for Seixas, Del Toro, or anyone else. We have to be in the mix and seize every opportunity.” So in the tough stages still to come, we can forget about an aggressive Ayuso—even if that might be against our better judgment.

The Lidl-Trek rider also commented on the hot topic of this Tour de France: nighttime doping tests. “It’s a pretty complicated issue. I’ve never had to take a test at 2 or 5 in the morning. If they were to test me at that hour, I’d feel frustrated, which I think is understandable for anyone. We’re riding in a Tour where everything is measured down to the millimeter, and if they don’t let you sleep before a super-tough stage, well, that throws you off your game.”

But, Ayuso adds: “I’m the first to want a fair and just sport.” On our day off, they showed up at 10:30 p.m. That’s a bit inconvenient, too, because you just want to go to bed, but I think those times are more understandable. In any case, we’ll have to go along with it; that’s just the way it is, so there’s not much else we can do about it.'