UAE Team Emirates-XRG manager Mauro Gianetti endured another day of emotions at the Giro d’Italia in Bormio.
He watched Isaac del Toro fight back and win the stage while wearing the maglia rosa but also saw how the team’s expected leader Juan Ayuso suffered on the climbs and finished in the gruppetto.
Del Toro and Ayuso were joint team leaders after the Siena gravel stage but the Spaniard was suffering physically with a deep cut on his knee and perhaps mentality as Del Toro stole his thunder and defended the maglia rosa day after day.
While Del Toro fought back on the stage to Bormio and extended his lead on Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) to 41 and 51 seconds respectively, Ayuso suffered again and finished 141st, at 35:42. In two days he has fallen from second overall to 26th, at 49:49.
Gianetti is trying to support Ayuso in his moment of difficulty.
“Ayuso hasn’t disappointed me,” he insisted to Cyclingnews and La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“When you don’t feel well on one of the hardest stages of a Grand Tour, it’s never easy to recover from it. He doesn’t feel 100%, he’s struggling to recover and is getting more and more fatigued.
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“Now it’s important he stays in the Giro and stays part of the team. He can perhaps help Isaac in the next few days and play an important part in the team’s race.”
Ayuso, Del Toro and UAE always denied any tension in the team during the Giro d’Italia, despite growing speculation to the contrary.
Ayuso, 22, has a contract until the end of 2028 but it has been described as a ‘gabbia dorata’ – Italian for a ‘golden cage’, because of the long duration but also the presence of Tadej Pogačar and now Isaac del Toro above him in the UAE team hierarchy.
As a proven stage race talent and potentially a future Grand Tour winner, several teams would be happy to sign Ayuso if he wanted to leave UAE but Gianetti made it clear that Ayuso remains part of the team’s long-term plans.
“He’s one of our riders. He’s happy at UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Juan Ayuso has no intention of leaving the team and we have no plan to let him go,” Gianetti said.
“Cycling is tough and still unpredictable. Look at riders like Antonio Tiberi of Bahrain Victorious. He was really ambitious until a few days ago but then crashed and really suffered today.
“It’s part of cycling. Juan won a lot in the first part of the season and raced a lot, perhaps he’s paying for that.”
Isaac del Toro is a campione
Gianetti stood at the foot of the podium as Del Toro celebrated his stage victory and pulled on the maglia rosa for another day.
“It’s a bellissimo Giro. This was a great and very important day for us as a team. To see a young guy like Isaac Del Toro, a 21-year-old guy, show his character and ambitions is special,” Gianetti said with a hint of emotion in his voice.
“It’s exceptional what he’s doing. He took the maglia rosa in his first Giro when just 21 years old. He’s suddenly discovered a totally new world. He knew it was beautiful but has now also realised that it comes with responsibility, each day before and after the stage but also towards the fans and the race.
“That’s all new to him but he’s a ‘campione’. He’s learning and maturing every day, both mentally and physically. He’s learnt to trust the team, road captains like Rafa Majka and Adam Yates, and his directeur sportif.
Just four stages and two key mountain stages stand between another UAE Grand Tour victory, this time with Del Toro. He leads Carapaz by 41 seconds, with Simon Yates at 51 seconds.
“We’re taking every day as it comes, one after the other, as we’ve always done,” Gianetti said.
“There’s some hard racing to come but Del Toro’s win and his ride today will definitely boost his and our confidence. Let’s see what happens.”
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