Juan Ayuso won’t settle for playing second fiddle to Pogacar: "I want to be the best in the world"

Juan Ayuso has been a hot topic in cycling circles lately, with countless newspapers dedicating stories to him. Once hailed as a prodigy, over the past six months, his role at UAE Team Emirates and his future with the team have been widely debated and criticized. Ayuso has faced criticism and speculation. During a very candid press conference, he opened up about his struggles, and IDLProCycling.com captured his story.

It’s absolutely incorrect to say that everything went smoothly for Ayuso up until 2024. The now 22-year-old Spaniard joined UAE Team Emirates midway through 2021, not long after his victory in the Baby Giro. While he started off strong, injuries early on in 2023 cost him an entire season. This setback followed an impressive grand tour debut in 2022, where he finished third in the Vuelta a España. Because of this, his fourth-place finish in the 2023 Vuelta no longer felt like a major achievement.

In 2024, Ayuso set his sights on taking the next big step — the same step teammate and leader Tadej Pogacar took after finishing third in the 2019 Vuelta and winning the 2020 Tour de France. However, Ayuso’s path unfolded differently. In his debut Tour de France, he contracted COVID-19 and was forced to abandon the race. This came after the criticism concerning the Galibier climb on stage four, where he appeared not to fully support Pogacar. Did he quit out of frustration? Should he have kept going?

Ayuso addressed these questions when he appeared at the Olympic Games over a month later. He revealed that he had been seriously ill and barely managed to come back in time for Paris. As a result, he skipped the Vuelta and was seen only sporadically afterward, riding anonymously in Canada, placing fifth in Luxembourg (including a time trial win), and finishing 26th at the World Championships. These performances overshadowed his earlier successes: victory in the Faun-Ardèche Classic, a stage win and second place in Tirreno-Adriatico, and an overall win in the Tour of the Basque Country.

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Ayuso after his crash in the Dauphiné...

Ayuso reflects on "weird year," with major consequences

"It was a bit of a weird year," Ayuso said. "I started off strong, but after I stopped racing to prepare for the Tour de France, setbacks kept coming. I crashed out of the Dauphiné and then had to leave the Tour before it had even really begun. I never really came back from that. A season of yin and yang, but I grew because of it. That’s what I’m focusing on for the coming year."

He continued: "I don’t really have any regrets, although I’ve certainly made mistakes. In things like my preparation, where I’m gaining more and more experience. I always reflect with the team on what went well and what could have gone better. Overall, it was mostly bad luck, because what can you do about a crash in the Dauphiné or a COVID-19 infection? My body didn’t cooperate afterward, despite doing everything I could to get back on track. I won one more time trial (in Luxembourg, ed.), but for me, that wasn’t enough."

And so the season fizzled out, leaving Ayuso with 'only' eight victories after 3.5 years in the WorldTour. "I actually need to improve in every area, but right now, I’m mainly focusing on climbing. I see myself as a climber, but when I look at my wins, half of those were on the time trial bike. That’s strange for me because I’ve always been a climber. I have the advantage of being strong in time trials, where I can gain minutes that are hard to make up in the mountains. But I do want to focus more on climbing to close the gap with Tadej, Vingegaard, Roglic and Evenepoel."

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Juan Ayuso at the Tour de France team presentation

Ayuso plans to change to match Pogacar

Climbing is just one part of the big changes Ayuso has planned. "I’m going to make a lot of adjustments to my preparation and see if they work, or if I have to go back to the basics. Age is also a factor. So far, I haven’t trained as many hours as some of the riders with more experience. One aspect is to increase my training volume, but also the type of training. Doing the same thing for 20 years isn’t the answer, even if it’s worked before. I want to try new things, so hopefully that will help. If it doesn't, we'll figure it out."

Does this sound like desperation? Ayuso insists he’s determined to make something happen, in order to avoid being sidelined. "I want to be the best rider in the world. Right now, that’s Tadej, so you’ll probably write that I want to be better than him. But that’s not what I mean. I dream of being the absolute best one day, which means I’ll have to surpass him. He’s not a rival, but he sets the standard."

It can be frustrating that things seem to come so easily to the Slovenian world champion. "For Tadej, a grand tour is easier than for all of us. It’s hard to take advice from him in that area. He’s the best in the world, so it looks easier than it really is. I have a lot of friends outside the sport who ask if this is normal. To which I say no, what he does isn’t normal. You’ll never understand it, but it’s better to have him on your team than race against him. When you see Lionel Messi dribbling past all his opponents, it looks easy too, doesn’t it? But it’s not easy for other footballers either."

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Pogacar, the best cyclist in the world. For now?

Pogacar won't influence Ayuso's Giro plans

The downside is that Pogacar will remain the main man at UAE Team Emirates until 2030 and will get to chose where he races. If he chooses two grand tours, that leaves only one for the other stars. Ayuso isn’t waiting for the champion’s decision on whether he will race the Giro in addition to the Tour in 2025. "I’m going to the Giro. If Tadej doesn’t go, fine. If he does, I’m still going. I’m fully focused on the Tour of Italy, it’s one of my big goals. If Tadej will also race the Giro, it’ll change things, and I’ll ride for him, but it won’t change my preparation. You always want to be at your best for a race like that, so that’s what I'm focusing on."

While it might feel like he’s settling for leftovers, Ayuso doesn’t see it that way. "There are still plenty of races, including national events like the European and World Championships, where I want to shine. I don’t feel trapped in this team, but it’s true that I’m on the best team in the world. That means everyone is performing at a very high level. If you want an opportunity, you have to earn. You can’t just ask for it. If others are better, you ride for them. That’s motivating, because you have to keep working and can never relax."

The question remains: after the whole Tour de France fuss, what is the bond like between Pogacar and Ayuso? "I get that question often, and I understand why. But Tadej and I have a perfectly normal relationship. We spend a lot of time together, during training camps, the Tour... Because of that you always build a kind of friendship. Not being able to help him in the Tour because of COVID-19 was mentally tough for me. I couldn’t show what I was capable of, and we talked about that privately. He understood my situation and always supports me. I appreciate that in a champion like him, that even when he wins all those races, he knows that it's not always easy for the people around him. He acknowledges that, which makes it easier for everyone else. So I don't have to think about my contract (until the end of 2028, ed.) or another team. I'm happy here."

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