Probably the most telling question Juan Ayuso had to face after finishing off a 160-kilometre breakaway on stage 7 of the Vuelta a España with a stunning solo victory on the slopes of Cerler was the one of the simplest: “Juan”, one journalist asked him, “It’s not really clear to me – are you in good shape, or aren’t you?”
The question referred to the two, seemingly utterly contradictory performances by Ayuso on the Vuelta’s two biggest mountain stages to date.
His victory was forged right from the start of stage 7 when the race left Andorra, first by going solo and fending off a pursuit by Visma-Lease a Bike on the 24 kilometre-long slopes of Cantó, then by working in a 13-rider break to stay clear over two Cat.2 climbs, and finally by dropping the rest of the attackers to go with 11 kilometres to go.
“I haven’t been able to prepare the Vuelta in the way I’d like to” – he was a late call-up after teammate Tadej Pogačar’s post-Tour de France decision not to participate – “and I wasn’t ready to fight for the overall in a three-week stage race.
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