Vuelta a España director Javier Guillén has called on UAE Team Emirates to include Juan Ayuso in their line-up for the race, which gets underway in Lisbon on August 17.
Ayuso was not initially slated to ride this year’s Vuelta, and he has not raced since he abandoned the Tour de France on stage 13 after testing positive for COVID-19. Later in the Tour, UAE Team Emirates manager Mauro Gianetti reiterated that Ayuso would not be included in their Vuelta line-up, where Adam Yates and João Almeida are set to lead.
“As of today, we don't have confirmation of Ayuso,” Guillén told AS. “The riders have their preparations done and I don't think it's easy to remove a rider from a team to put another one in.
“Still, as a Spanish race, I ask the team to bring Ayuso. But I ask it with affection, I ask it cordially and I ask it with understanding of the circumstances. Certainly, the rider, the race and the country need Ayuso to be there.”
Ayuso was five days short of his 20th birthday when he placed third on the 2022 Vuelta, becoming the second youngest rider ever to finish on the podium of a Grand Tour. He placed fourth overall on his return to the race last year, and he won Itzulia Basque Country earlier this season.
However, Ayuso’s abandon on his Tour debut – not to mention apparent tensions with Almeida on the Galibier – has led to speculation that he might leave UAE this winter despite being under contract until 2028. Ayuso will ride for Spain in the Olympic Games road race in Paris on Saturday.
Ayuso’s teammate Tadej Pogačar, already winner of the Giro and Tour, has confirmed that he will not chase an historic Grand Tour treble at the Vuelta, while Jonas Vinegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 2022 winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) have also ruled themselves out of the Spanish race.
Defending champion Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) is expected to ride the Vuelta after COVID-19 forced him to miss the Tour, while Guillén expressed hope that three-time champion Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) will also compete after a crash ended his Tour challenge.
“I'm confident that Roglič will be there,” Guillén said. “We're counting on him, but it's clear that he'll only come if he's fit enough to contest the race. We know that Bora will bring a team to support him, as UAE will come with serious aspirations to win, with Adam Yates who can be one of the candidates.”
Guillén also indicated that Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) would line out at the Vuelta, and he expressed hope that Ineos might field both Carlos Rodríguez and Egan Bernal, though the British team has yet to confirm as much.
“I am optimistic because of how [Rodríguez] finished the Tour and his statements afterwards,” said Guillén.
“We heard that [Wout] van Aert could come because he was originally going to do the Giro and Vuelta. But we don't have the Visma list yet, so we don't know. We also think that Bernal will be there, but he hasn't told us either. I think in next week we will have more solid confirmations than we have now.”
Guillén accepted, however, that Pogačar was unlikely to be swayed from his decision not to ride the Vuelta this year, though the Slovenian hinted strongly during the Tour that he might return to the race in 2025. Pogačar placed third overall on his Grand Tour debut at the 2019 Vuelta.
“We believe that at some point he will have to come and ride,” Guillén said. “There are very few in the club of winners of all three Grand Tours, obviously, and I suppose he will want to win it at some point.”
