Just one month ago, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was preparing to start the Giro d’Italia as one of the co-favourites for overall victory alongside Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
But now, after being outshone by his younger teammate Isaac del Toro, and abandoning the race on stage 18 following struggles with injury – which saw him drop out of the race for the pink jersey – and a bee sting, the Spaniard’s remaining calendar for 2025 is looking thin.
Spanish newspaper AS has reported that Ayuso likely won’t be seen in competition again until the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa on August 2. The national championships in Granada are expected to come too soon for the 22-year-old amid his recovery and “weeks off the bike” due to his knee injury from Italy.
That hit out in the Basque Country will make up part of Ayuso’s build-up to the World Championships in Rwanda, with the mountainous road race in September around Kigali suiting his climbing characteristics.
Ayuso is also expected to have ridden his last Grand Tour in 2025 at the Giro, with UAE’s Tour de France team being all about Tadej Pogačar, and the Emirati squad’s young rider policy preventing him from racing a second three-week race in one season at the Vuelta a España.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG doesn’t typically allow riders under 25 to race two Grand Tours in one year, with Giro runner-up Del Toro being limited similarly in 2025, and Pogačar only racing his first double GT season last year, when he won both the Giro and Tour at 25.
“Isaac won’t be competing in another Grand Tour this year because it’s our responsibility to take care of the riders and manage talent calmly,” UAE Team Emirates-XRG CEO Mauro Gianetti told TNT at the end of the Giro.
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“We’ll do the same with Ayuso, who unfortunately hasn’t been at his best, but he is an incredible talent also. We’re giving everyone opportunities, but also time to recover, thinking long-term.”
Ayuso did state to Spanish media that he wanted to race another Grand Tour after the disappointing Giro, which would have been the Vuelta, where he has finished third and fourth previously, but was already aware that this would be unlikely on his current team.
“On the one hand, I’d like to race another Grand Tour, but if I don’t, the alternative calendar is somewhat limited,” said Ayuso, reported AS.
“If I don’t race any Grand Tours, which isn’t planned, there’s still San Sebastián and you have to focus a lot on the World Championships.
“If you have a great World Championship, you save the entire second half of the season, but it’s the problem of the calendar. I’m obviously not ready to make it to the Tour, and if you don’t do the Vuelta a España, what other calendar do you have?”
UAE’s Vuelta squad is expected to be led by Pogačar, who will be looking to complete the set of Grand Tour wins with the red jersey, to go alongside his maglia rosa and three yellow jerseys.
AS also reported that, while Ayuso may race some of the Italian one-day Classics towards the end of the season – Giro dell’Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine – the Spaniard likely won’t race Il Lombardia alongside Pogačar, as the Slovenian eyes a fifth title in a row.
The Giro d’Italia had started as planned for Ayuso, taking his first Grand Tour stage win on stage 7 in Tagliacozzo and being sat second overall behind his Mexican teammate after the conclusion of the first week.
But it was a crash on the gravel stage 9 to Siena, which saw him injure his knee and require stitches. After this, Del Toro continued to overshadow him, until Ayuso eventually dropped out of the GC running on the stage to San Valentino (Brentonico).
Nonetheless, he’s still had a great season at only 22, with victory at Tirreno-Adriatico, second at the Volta a Catalunya behind Roglič, and one-day victories at Trofeo Laigueglia and Faun Drome Classic, with his Giro stage to boot.
There has been a whole host of speculation about Ayuso’s future following the Giro, but Gianetti stressed that there was no issue surrounding the Spanish rider’s place on the team, with his contract running until 2028.
“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 told Cyclingnews and La Gazzetta dello Sport a day before Ayuso left the Giro.
