Why 'loner' Ayuso is preparing for the Giro on his own: "I don’t want to be selfish"

"My day usually starts around 8:30 AM," the talented Spaniard begins. "If the weather is nice, I try to start training by 10:00 AM. That's usually around 11:00 AM in winter because I prefer to avoid the cold. It's actually always a fairly monotonous routine, except on rest days – then it looks a bit different."

But what are his rest days like? Don't expect anything too exciting. "On rest days, I try to sleep a lot. I always get a massage. And if I don't have a massage or can't sleep, I watch a movie, and then I go back to sleep and repeat that, haha."

These aspects are important to the climber in the build-up to his big goals, which he really enjoys. "Nothing beats competing, that goes without saying. But every year, I enjoy the process leading up to it more – the process of getting in top form. This year, I really enjoyed my training camp in the Sierra Nevada. You can see how your physical condition changes in three weeks. Of course, it also helped that everything went well during that period."

"After training, I upload my data to TrainingPeaks. My coach can check it there, and then we discuss it together," Ayuso continues. "I don't normally make my data public. I've considered sharing my competition results, but I'm too lazy for that, haha. Besides, I don't think social media is important, so I don't bother with it."

When Ayuso trains, he almost always does so alone. "95% of the time, I ride solo because I think I train better that way. When you ride with someone else, you're limited by what they're doing that day. I don't want to be selfish and say I must do this or that today. And I don't usually stop for coffee either – I don't think it benefits the training."