UAE Team Emirates-XRG pre-race GC contender Juan Ayuso has abandoned the Giro d’Italia, after injuries first left him out the battle for the overall and then on stage 18 a bee sting from the previous day finally rendered racing on completely impossible.
Third in the 2022 Vuelta a España and with strong form during the spring, Ayuso had started the Giro as one of the top favourites alongside Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and he won the opening mountaintop finish stage at Taglicozzo.
However, while teammate Isaac del Toro moved into the overall lead – which the Mexican still retains – Ayuso’s GC chances were severely compromised by a crash and knee injury on stage 9 and he lost nearly 50 minutes in the opening mountain stages of the third week.
Things went from bad to worse on stage 17 when he was stung by a bee and half way up the Cat.2 Parlasco ascent, some 35 kilometres into the following stage, Ayuso fell back and then climbed into a team vehicle – and straight out of the Giro.
“They’ve been very tough days, not at all good and then on top of that I got stung by a bee which got inside my helmet,” he told Eurosport at the start of stage 18.
“I’m here because I wanted to be here for the team. The team told me not to start, but I want to try at least for the first kilometres.”
However, after talking to the team and race doctor in the neutralised section, Ayuso was anything but helped by the ultra-fast start to stage 18 and he spent most of the fast first 45 minutes at the back.
Then following a long on-bike debate with the team car, he fell back even further and finally opted to quit.
Ayuso’s exit follows that of the other top pre-race favourite Roglič from the Giro on stage 16, also from injury, with Del Toro currently ahead overall by 41 seconds on Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easy Post).
Prior to abandoning Ayuso has already spoken to Spanish media about possibly racing the Vuelta a España, where already he has a third and fourth place on GC. But following this blow to his biggest stage racing target of the season – and with Pogačar possibly targeting the Vuelta, too – it remains to be seen how he will now handle his recovery, before making further plans.
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