Juan Ayuso pulled out of Itzulia Basque Country on Thursday, with his Lidl-Trek team confirming on social media that he had abandoned due to stomach issues.
The champion of the 2024 Basque Country race took the start on a hilly stage 4, but got off his bike mid-way on the 167.2km route due to an illness that he said troubled him since Tuesday.
“The second stage was super tough and I wasn’t feeling very well. On top of that, I had pretty bad stomach problems yesterday,” he told CyclingProNet at the start in Galdakao.
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He tried to make light of the situation saying, “I think I rode harder to the bus after the finish yesterday than I rode during the stage itself.”
The game of catchup to the French race leader improved slightly on stage 2, as Ayuso moved from 38th overall to 16th, but Seixas stayed on the gas and rode away from everyone for a second stage win and a larger time gap from all GC contenders. It was now 1:59 between Seixas and second-placed Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), while the margin had grown to 3:55 for Ayuso.
“At the moment, I’m not feeling great either,” Ayuso said at the start in his comments to CyclingProNet and confirmed by other media. “It’s been a few tough days, but I hope my body recovers so I can still be of use to the team for the last few days.”
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