'Sad' Juan Ayuso seeks to identify causes behind disastrous year: 'What we're seeing isn't normal'

In 2022, Ayuso became the youngest rider since 1905 to finish on the podium of a Grand Tour, but the Spanish climber was unable to build on that momentum. Partly due to bad luck and stiff competition at UAE, things didn’t work out , so he left for Lidl-Trek. However, in the Tour de France, he finished seventh, behind teammate Mattias Skjelmose.

With Tadej Pogačar absent, Ayuso also came to the World Cycling Championships hoping to become world champion, but he ultimately finished thirteenth in Montreal.

“Something isn’t right—that much is clear: something is off, because what we’re seeing isn’t normal,” his coach, Aritz Arberas, told Daniel Arribas. “The measurable training data we have doesn’t add up.”

It’s completely unclear why his form is so poor. “Training went well; Juan sacrificed a lot and put in a tremendous amount of effort to be in top form, with seasons spent at altitude and specific preparation for the world championships, but then the race comes and things don’t go the way he wants. His performance isn’t what you’d expect from a cyclist of his caliber.”

Ayuso is feeling down about his disappointing debut year with Lidl-Trek. “Of course he’s sad. He’s an ambitious and very hardworking guy. When we talk after the races, he asks me, ‘Aritz, what do you think? What do you think is going on?’ And then I say, “Well, I don’t know, Juan, we don’t have the answer.”

"Right now we’re in the analysis phase; we’re trying to pinpoint the problem to understand what’s happening.”

His coach, however, encourages him. “At this level, you’re like a Formula 1 car, and if a Ferrari’s tire blows out, that Ferrari doesn’t perform the same anymore.” The advantage we have now is that, with no competition, during this period—which I call the “rest period”—we can focus on collecting a lot more data and concentrate on solving the problem, which is currently our main goal.”

Expectations are high for Ayuso, but he’s setting the bar even higher himself. “He’s a top rider, someone who’s expected to win, and he knows that—he’s fully aware of it. For example, he was heavily criticised last year when he said he wanted to win the world championship. And this year, his goal was the same. Why couldn’t Juan win it, but McNulty could?”

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Of course, we also have to take into account all the bad luck he’s had this year. “It’s true that things didn’t go entirely well this year. He crashed in Paris-Nice, then he got sick during the Itzulia and the Dauphiné, and the Tour didn’t go as we’d expected. He’s had an extremely difficult year, and people don’t realize that. He’s faced problems at crucial moments in the season, and that has significantly affected his performance.”

"But the 24-year-old climber isn't the type to give up. He still has a contract that runs for four more years, and even though Felix Gall has brought even more competition, he's highly motivated.""Next year, we’re confident that everything will change and that he’ll once again achieve the results he works so hard for. He deserves it," Arberas concludes.