For a rider who had just lost any chance of winning his home Grand Tour, Juan Ayuso seemed anything but troubled when talking to reporters after the Vuelta a España‘s first major summit finish at Andorra.
In barely six kilometres of the first-category ascent to Pal, and just a day after UAE Team Emirates-XRG had scored a notable triumph in the team time trial at Figueres, the 22-year-old Spaniard lost nearly seven minutes to lead favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Pre-Turin, the Spaniard had certainly pointed out that his late call-up for the Vuelta following Tadej Pogačar’s decision to pull out, coupled with a lack of specific preparation, had made racing his second Grand Tour of the year – also for the first time in his career – a voyage into the unknown.
Less than 24 hours later, though, when he plummeted from second place, just eight seconds behind Vingegaard overall to 43rd at 10:13 on new leader Torstein Træen (Bahrain – Victorious) in the space of just six kilometres, that GC door slammed resoundingly shut.
“I didn’t have the weight of the GC [expectations] hanging over me, it was hanging over you,” Ayuso said after stage 6, referring to the widespread idea amongst the media and…
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