Focus shifts to Del Toro as loose stitches leave Ayuso vulnerable in Giro battle

Ayuso hit the deck on stage 9, when a group of favorites crashed on the first gravel sector heading toward Siena. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader was able to get going quickly and even gained time on key rival Primoz Roglic. Teammate Isaac Del Toro finished second that day and took over the pink jersey. On Monday’s rest day, Ayuso underwent a check-up, and the damage turned out to be more serious than initially thought. “The problem was that I landed on my knee and needed three stitches there. It’s very painful,” he admitted.

After a short recovery ride, Ayuso wasn’t too concerned about his time trial performance on Tuesday, and rightly so. Despite wet conditions, he put in a strong ride and closed the gap in the general classification to just 25 seconds behind Del Toro. When Egan Bernal lit things up a day later on the Giro’s first truly steep climb, both Ayuso and Del Toro followed without much visible trouble. Del Toro even grabbed bonus seconds at the line, rounding off what looked like another strong day for the UAE duo.

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While there’s been plenty of talk about a possible internal rivalry, Ayuso showed in stage 12 that he’s fully committed to supporting Isaac Del Toro. “I launched with 400 meters to go because both Isaac and I were well positioned. When the pace dropped, I knew I had to do something or Isaac would get swamped. At 200 meters, a lot of riders came past me, but it meant Isaac was in the perfect spot to take second.”

Del Toro did just that, extending his GC lead over Ayuso to 31 seconds. No issue at all, according to the Spaniard, who had already been thinking about his teammate earlier in the stage when Richard Carapaz launched an attack. “When Isaac went after Carapaz, I chose to ride my own pace. I didn’t want to bring him back, and if it came back together anyway, at least I wouldn’t have wasted energy by responding. That turned out to be a good decision.”

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His position heading into the final week is solid, but on Thursday Ayuso was brutally honest about how he’s been feeling lately. “I felt good on the steep climb Wednesday, although I did suffer more toward the end. My knee is quite painful, so I’m hoping Thursday and Friday will be a bit easier so I can recover better. It’s not ideal. I had three stitches in my knee, but they came loose during the time trial.”

That had consequences. While Ayuso rode the time trial without any bandage, his knee was more heavily wrapped on Wednesday. “It has started to swell again and it’s pretty painful. Walking hurts more than cycling, but I definitely feel it on the bike too,” said the UAE leader. Still, he’s not complaining. “The atmosphere in the team is really great. We’re in a perfect position. On Wednesday, we had all eight riders in the peloton on the steep climb for a long time, which really showed the strength of our team. We’re happy with how things are going and hope to keep it that way.”

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])