UAE and Ayuso are reminded what losing feels like thanks to Roglic: "It is what it is, and that’s okay"

"He had the best legs," the 22-year-old Spaniard began his reflection with remarkable composure. The final stage turned into a game of seconds from the start, Ayuso admitted. "The team supported me from the beginning. We lost the first intermediate sprint and won the second, so I was still in the lead overall. That meant Red Bull (-BORA-hansgrohe) had to go on the offensive."

And that’s exactly what the German-Austrian team did. Roglic attacked on the climb to Montjuïc, and Ayuso couldn’t follow. "With three laps to go, I bumped into another rider right at the start of the steep section. I lost a lot of positions. Red Bull noticed I was far back at the bottom of the climb and played it smart. I nearly got back on his wheel, but he cracked me at the top. Then he was gone. He was the strongest today, so he won. Chapeau to him," said Ayuso sportingly.

That Roglic would launch an attack from that far out didn’t exactly come as a surprise to UAE’s rising star. “I could imagine it happening. It’s quite a fast circuit. I didn’t know if it would be with two or three laps to go, but I knew it wouldn’t be in the final lap,” Ayuso said, accepting his defeat. “It is what it is, and that’s okay.”