"A great day for Spanish cycling": Contador praises Romeo's performance and defends Ayuso

Staying in the breakaway for a long time and then accelerating at precisely the right moment, deep in the final. That's how Iván Romeo sprinted to the most significant victory of his career on Tuesday, which also saw the youngster take the leader's jersey in the Dauphiné. It has been known for some time that the Movistar rider will be someone to watch in the future, but on Tuesday, we saw Romeo's class at the highest level.

"This was a great day for Spanish cycling," Contador concluded. "Romeo won a stage in the run-up to the Tour and has taken the lead. He is only 21 years old. He can ride a great race here and in the Tour, especially as a domestique for Enric (Mas, ed.)," said the two-time Tour winner in conversation with Marca about the bright future of the young top talent.

Contador spoke of a great day for Spanish cycling, of which we saw several examples in the recent Giro d'Italia. In addition to Carlos Verona's impressive stage win (Lidl-Trek) in stage fifteen, we also saw another Spanish stage victory when Ayuso won stage seven on the first mountain finish. This was followed by an eventful Giro for the UAE rider, which many analysts, former riders, and journalists discussed.

Laurens Ten Dam and Stefan Bolt were among those who discussed it. "Ayuso's ambition is so huge that it can also get in his way. Sports director Fabio Baldato said something similar: Juan has a big ego, and he didn't mean that negatively," Bolt said after the Giro, after which Ten Dam compared the Spaniard to a young Robert Gesink. "He may have had that a little bit in his early years. That burning ambition that Robert also had can work against you a little bit when the pressure gets really high. I think that's what Baldato meant."

Contador, however, chose to defend his young compatriot. "Ayuso is a talented young man with a great mentality. Let's see how he develops. He started as the favorite alongside Roglic in the Giro but crashed. Then we forgot that he had crashed, which is unfair. He has a great Grand Tour in his legs. We'll see how far he can go," said El Pistolero.