Is Ayuso's behavior at UAE deceptive and illogical? "Of course not, at 21 years old, anyone would want a better role"

After a playful Giro d'Italia and an incredible Tour de France, UAE Team Emirates has had less to celebrate in this Vuelta. The team still has Adam Yates in the GC top ten, and the Brit also won a stage. However, João Almeida, the team leader, dropped out due to COVID-19, and the other shadow leaders are not quite performing as expected. What is the current mood in the team? Joxean Matxin explains and also discusses the downsides of having so much talent within one team.

An eighth place in the general classification is not what UAE came to Spain for, the team manager says. "We want to be protagonists. We will be looking for stage victories and also to improve our situation with Adam and be aggressive, as we have always been. We are not satisfied with the current position. It's clear that we are still far off. The Vuelta is still long, but we mainly want to try to win more stages," he tells Relevo.

Read more below the photo.

Matxin on the Tour: "In this team, it's difficult to manage egos"

With Tadej Pogacar absent, the team’s big star is missing. There was also much fuss surrounding the prodigy Juan Ayuso. However, the Spaniard does not want to say too much about it. He states that it was mostly "comments" that people read in the media. "They should also be seen as such: comments. It’s like if I told you I prefer sparkling water over still water. That’s all it is, an opinion, nothing more," he says dryly.

So, there is no intentional cocky behavior, despite stories suggesting that Ayuso and UAE were on a collision course. Matxin emphasizes the human aspect. He finds it logical that the young climber is ambitious and shows it. "Look, I always give a clear example. If you have a rider like Tadej and you want to win the Tour de France with such a clear leader, then you need the best possible team around him, and to have the best possible team, you need the best cyclists in the world."

"In many cases, those are riders who can also aim for a podium finish themselves," he continues. "And managing the egos of those riders is not easy. If you are 21 years old, as in the case of Juan Ayuso, you would like to have a better role, possibly a leadership role, but you obviously accept that Tadej Pogacar is the best in the world and you adapt to that," says the team manager on duty.