Ayuso tried to make rival Romo nervous: "I'd already won a stage, he had to do more if he wanted to win"

The explosive Ayuso had a lot of confidence in his sprint against his compatriot Javier Romo (Movistar). “But after a tough day, you never know,” said the winner in the flash interview, who played sneaky games in the final kilometers. “I played my cards; I had to make him a little nervous. In the final kilometers, I said that I had already won a stage, and he had to do more if he wanted to win the stage.”

That wasn't his own plan, by the way. “That's what I was told from the car. I don't really like not cooperating fully. But sometimes you have to be clever. That's what I did in the final.” In the final kilometer, it was a piece of cake for Ayuso. “The sprint went well, and I knew the roads well because the finish was like in a junior race I had ridden. I knew how to time it, and it went perfectly.”

Ayuso broke away on the brutal final climb: after some fantastic work by teammate Marc Soler, he laid the foundation for victory about 3 kilometers before the summit. “That was the hardest part of the climb, and there was also a tailwind instead of a headwind. Soler also did a great job, controlling a breakaway that was almost as big as the peloton. Thanks to him, I got the race under control. Then I decided to go,” concluded the stage winner.