Juan Ayuso came to win, but lost in style: "Tour of Flanders in the future will be tough"
CyclingSunday, 28 September 2025 at 17:46
It's a bit sadistic, but seeing someone crack like Juan Ayuso on the Wall of Kigali is also what makes cycling so beautiful. The 23-year-old Spaniard has been the subject of conversation in recent weeks due to his departure from UAE Emirates-XRG, his transfer to Lidl-Trek, and his statement that he came to the World Championships to win. Ayuso also went all-in, but lost in style.
“I definitely see myself as rainbow jersey material. I would be lying if I said otherwise—it's a dream,” he said boldly in the week before the World Championships. "There are many factors, but if I weren't convinced of myself, I wouldn't be here. I'm not signing up for silver. With the team we have, and considering I'm representing Spain, I have to give it my all. '
And so Ayuso stood on the pedals, leaned over his handlebars, and nestled into the wheel of Tadej Pogacar when he accelerated 104 kilometers from the finish on Mount Kigali. At the top of the climb, only Ayuso was with him, and eventually Isaac Del Toro joined them. “When the race opened up, I was there,” Ayuso analyzed after the race on Eurosport.
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Ayuso breaks away in style on the Wall of Kigali
Ayuso said he was well protected by the Spanish team, despite the early withdrawal of Marc Soler. As a result, he arrived reasonably fresh at the long climb of the day. “I felt good during the climb; it was a long effort, and that suits me. I was able to stay with Tadej,” he noted approvingly.
However, after Mount Kigali came the Wall of Kigali, built on cobblestones, just like those in the local circuit; those proved to be Ayuso's undoing. “The cobblestones were tough for me today, so I think the Tour of Flanders will be quite tough for me in the future if I ever ride it,” he said jokingly.
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Ayuso opted for chasing group
Ayuso took his loss with his head held high. When he saw Pogacar and Del Toro ride away, he didn't put any extra energy into chasing them. “When I was dropped, I decided to stop and wait for the group. That's bittersweet, because when the battle for the medals was decided, I was held up a bit.”
The group with Remco Evenepoel, Ben Healy, Mattias Skjelmose, Tom Pidcock, and Jai Hindley rode away, and Ayuso just missed the move. “I finished that lap ten seconds behind Remco's group, so I would have liked to have been with that group to compete at the front of the race. It is what it is, I'm leaving here satisfied.”
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Latest Comments
- 👏👏Bea24-09-2025
- Agreed! As we all know now, Juan Ayuso will be on another team. But it was sweet to see him win the stages at La Vuelta. I do love the drama of cycling admittedly but its clear to see the talent of winners of stages in a Grand Tourryhw2814fq921-09-2025
- Pogacar has no competition he has won everything, I cant imagine even being him in that position!! Crazy. I am sure he has some back up plan for how he wants to spend his retirement years at age 30 onward. Does he like beer? Plenty of innovation in brewing. And you don't have to be super social. Chapeau/Cheers whatever you like Tadej you will do.ryhw2814fq921-09-2025
- Plus its confirmed that the Philadelphia Cycling Classic up the Manayunk Wall is back for 2026! hooray for thatryhw2814fq918-09-2025
- This is a dumb question but still why doesn't the UCI consider a grand tour in the USA in the future. We have the desolate/scary back roads in Pennsylvania and Virginia, just like in France with loads of rural land and hills. Plus the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and the Cascade/Olympic Mountains in Washington State. I'm sure it'll never happen but honestly people in PA/NJ/NY/VT/NH would love it. We are already sports fans, what is another sport to learn. I am forever optimistic about cycling in the US.ryhw2814fq918-09-2025
- Zonneveld makes some excellent points.The sponsorship model is broken and companies like Verizon who have multi billion dollar with a B ad budgets need to be involved again.
Brucegel17-09-2025 - Roger Vlaeminck says Mads is not a good rider? Where is the headline saying you don't even have to be a good rider to win the World Road Championship says Roger Vlaeminck, who never won it!!? Perhaps his aging mind needs to think about what the heck he's saying.packfiller7103-09-2025
- Wow, there is so much criticism of the UAE XRG riders. Why so much criticism is being leveled solely at the riders is baffling. The UAE XRG management deserves a good amount of the criticism aimed at the team, as a whole. They have not managed the talent they have at all. They failed miserably to properly handle young Isaac del Toro on that penultimate day of the Giro. And they have not handled Juan Ayuso well either. If they didn't have Tadej Pogacar in their roster, we might not be talking about them as winners, at all. So many think that Ayuso has shown that he is not a "team" player at all. Does anybody think that he might be thinking about his own future at this point? That he might want to feel like the team has his back, when they load the pressure onto him? And Joao is not a team leader. That burden might be laid on him by the management, but they need to properly support that assignment, not make it a contentious situation, within the team. And then how management has conducted themselves throughout this parting of ways between themselves and Ayuso has been totally indiscreet. And yet people want to pile onto Ayuso when he tells the truth about the manner that this is all soap opera is developing. He wants out. He shouldn't be getting so much negative criticism for that. It's a situation that has soured. Yes he has a contract, but he is not the first, nor will he be the last that wants to get out of a relationship that just isn't working anymore. And DeCauwer seems to have very vague reasons for criticizing Almeida. He does realize that Jonas is the second best Grand Tour rider of this current generation, so it should be no shame that Joao is behind him in the standings. Riders are giving their all in an extremely difficult sport that stretches them, often beyond their limits. Now many are wanting to send them to Behavioral School as well? The criticism ought to mellow out, or it ought to simply be ignored, as nothing more than blah, blah, blah, not worth the headlines it gets
reemmo002-09-2025 - In 5yrs, Pogi will be a top Twitch streamer living on baked goods while Urska is still racing.Veganpotter11-08-2025
- All they learned is that at the end of a 3 week race, Wout can beat him on a slightly bumpy stage. Obviously, this is very much thanks to Wout not racing for GC every day. This doesn't teach them a thing for Jonas beating Pogi. Not saying Jonas will never beat him again. But this absolutely won't have anything to do with it if he does beat him.Veganpotter28-07-2025
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