Ten Dam sees similarities between Ayuso and young Gesink: "When pressure gets high, it can work against you"

Ayuso, who did manage to win the seventh stage, crashed in the ninth stage, requiring stitches in his knee. This cost him a lot of energy in the following days and ultimately prevented him from competing at the front. A bee sting during the seventeenth stage dealt him the final blow one day later.

Former cyclist Laurens ten Dam and fellow podcast maker Stefan Bolt discussed it in the Live Slow, Ride Fast podcast. "The freedom that Del Toro has naturally appealed much more to the imagination. Ayuso's ambition is so big that it can also get in his way," says Bolt. "Sports director Fabio Baldato said something similar: Juan has a big ego. And he didn't mean that in a negative way."

Ten Dam sees a comparison. "Robert Gesink may have had that a little bit in his early years. In 2009, Denis Menchov won the Giro d'Italia and then went on to the Tour as lead rider. That was Robert's first Tour, and he was already a world-class rider."

"We went to scout a few stages, and I asked Robert: suppose Menchov gets dropped somewhere on the first climbs, would you wait for him?" Ten Dam recalls. "Robert said: no, I wouldn't wait. Whereas Menchov said: in my early years, I always had to ride for others, even though I was wearing the white jersey in the Tour."

"That burning ambition that Robert also had can work against you when the pressure gets high," continued the Dutch women's national coach. "And I think that's sort of what Baldato meant."