Juan Ayuso

Last updated
Juan Ayuso
Vuelta a Espana 2023 Contrarreloj Valladolid-87.jpg
Ayuso at the 2023 Vuelta a España
Personal information
Full nameJuan Ayuso Pesquera
Born (2002-09-16) 16 September 2002 (age 22)
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight65 kg (143 lb)
Team information
Current team UAE Team Emirates
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider type
  • All-rounder
  • Climber
Amateur team
2019–2020Bathco Cycling Team
Professional teams
2021 Team Colpack–Ballan [1]
2021– UAE Team Emirates
Major wins
Grand Tours
Vuelta a España
Young rider classification (2023)

Stage races

Tour of the Basque Country (2024)

One-day races and Classics

Faun-Ardèche Classic (2024)
Medal record
Representing Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
Men's road bicycle racing
European Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2021 Trentino Under-23 road race

Juan Ayuso Pesquera (born 16 September 2002) is a Spanish road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates. [2]

Contents

Career

Early years

Ayuso started cycling when he was seven or eight years old, and looked up to Alberto Contador. [3] [4] [5]

In 2017, he won the gold medal in the road race and the time trial at the Spanish Cadet Road Championships (15 to 16 years old), and defended his time trial title the following year. Moving up to the junior category, he immediately made an impact, winning the national junior road race title in 2019, and both the road race and time trial the following year. [6] In 2020, he dominated the national junior racing circuit, winning the Vuelta al Besaya  [ es ] in addition to several other stage races.

Under-23 (2021)

In 2021, Ayuso joined UCI Continental team Team Colpack–Ballan, planning to compete at the under-23 level for a year before joining UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates the following year. [7] He quickly found success at this level, winning the overall title of the Giro Ciclistico d'Italia, the under-23 edition of the Giro d'Italia as well as the Giro del Belvedere and Trofeo Piva one-day races. Only several days after his win at the Giro Ciclistico d'Italia, he joined UAE Team Emirates early, on an initial contract lasting through 2025. [8]

Ayuso at the 2022 Tour de Romandie Tour de Romandie 2022 Villars 7202.jpg
Ayuso at the 2022 Tour de Romandie

UAE Team Emirates (2021–)

Ayuso officially joined UAE Team Emirates on 15 June 2021. On 25 July in his third race with the team, he placed second in the Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia behind Luis León Sánchez. He then returned to the under-23 stage to race the Tour de l'Avenir, where he was considered the top favorite to win. However, he abandoned the race on stage four after crashing. [9] He then competed in the road race at the UEC European Under-23 Road Championships, where he won the bronze medal in a seven-man sprint. [10]

Ayuso showed strong form at the start of the 2022 season, with a fourth-place finish at the La Drôme Classic, then second in the Trofeo Laigueglia, finishing between his teammates Jan Polanc and Alessandro Covi. [11] He then competed in the Volta a Catalunya, his first UCI World Tour stage race, where he finished fifth overall. [12] At the beginning of May, he held second place in the Tour de Romandie going into the final time trial, where he lost time and fell to fourth place. However, he still took home the young rider classification award. [13] He took his first professional victory in the Circuito de Getxo at the end of July in a four-man sprint. [14] He was then selected for his first Grand Tour: the Vuelta a España, where he was the youngest rider in the race. He showed promise for the general classification early on, finishing fourth in the first mountain stage, 55 seconds behind the winner Jay Vine. [15] This put him in fifth place overall. Ultimately, he managed to move up to third by the end of the race, behind Remco Evenepoel and Enric Mas. [16] With this result five days before his 20th birthday, he became the second youngest rider in history to finish on the podium of a Grand Tour, behind Henri Cornet, the winner of the 1904 Tour de France. [17]

Ayuso had a slow start to the 2023 season due to tendinitis in his right Achilles, and did not make his debut until the Tour de Romandie in April. [18] He took the race lead after winning the stage three time trial, but fell back to 16th the following day. His next race was the Tour de Suisse. After having been in difficulty the stage before, he won the fifth stage solo on the day marred by the death of Gino Mäder. [19] He then won the time trial on the eighth and final day, ultimately finishing second overall, nine seconds behind winner Mattias Skjelmose. [20] In August, he entered his second Vuelta a España, where he took third-place finishes in stages three and eight, and finished fourth overall, winning the young rider classification in the process. [21]

In February 2024, he won the Ardèche Classic in a four-way sprint ahead of Romain Grégoire, Mattias Skjelmose and Felix Gall. [22] The following month, he competed in Tirreno–Adriatico, where he won the opening time trial. [23] However, he lost the race lead to Jonas Vingegaard, taking home second. [24] In April, he took part in the Tour of the Basque Country, which saw several of the main favorites abandon following a large crash during the fourth stage. [25] Sitting in third overall going into the final stage, Ayuso was able to drop race leader Mattias Skjelmose on the last climb, securing the overall victory by a margin of 42 seconds to compatriot Carlos Rodríguez. [26] This marked Ayuso's first major stage race win.

Major results

2019
National Junior Road Championships
1st MaillotEspana.svg Road race
3rd Time trial
1st Stage 2 Bizkaiko Itzulia
2nd VII Trofeo Victor Cabedo
3rd Gipuzkoa Klasika
5th Overall Trophée Centre Morbihan
2020
National Junior Road Championships
1st MaillotEspana.svg Road race
1st MaillotEspana.svg Time trial
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Vuelta al Besaya  [ es ]
1st Jersey black.svg Points classification
1st Stages 1, 2 & 3
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Vuelta a Talavera Junior
1st Stages 1, 2, 3 (ITT) & 4
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Vuelta a la Subbética
1st Stages 1, 2 & 3
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Circuito del Guadiana Junior
1st Stages 1 & 2 (ITT)
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Trofeo Victor Cabedo
1st Stages 4 & 5
1st Gipuzkoa Klasika
UEC European Junior Road Championships
5th Time trial
7th Road race
2021
1st Jersey pink.svg Overall Giro Ciclistico d'Italia
1st Jersey red.svg Points classification
1st Jersey green.svg Mountains classification
1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
1st Stages 2, 5 & 7
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Giro di Romagna
1st Jersey green.svg Mountains classification
1st Stages 2 & 3
1st Trofeo Piva
1st Giro del Belvedere
2nd Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia
3rd Bronze medal europe.svg Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
2022 (1 pro win)
1st Circuito de Getxo
2nd Trofeo Laigueglia
3rd Overall Vuelta a España
4th Road race, National Road Championships
4th Overall Tour de Romandie
1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
4th La Drôme Classic
4th Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia
5th Overall Volta a Catalunya
2023 (3)
1st Stage 3 (ITT) Tour de Romandie
National Road Championships
2nd Road race
4th Time trial
2nd Overall Tour de Suisse
1st Stages 5 & 8 (ITT)
3rd Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia
4th Overall Vuelta a España
1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
2024 (4)
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of the Basque Country
1st Jersey blue.svg Young rider classification
1st Faun-Ardèche Classic
2nd Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
1st Stage 1 (ITT)
2nd La Drôme Classic
3rd Trofeo Laigueglia
5th Overall Tour de Luxembourg
1st Stage 4 (ITT)
5th Overall Tour de Romandie

General classification results timeline

Sources: [27] [28] [29] [30]

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour202220232024
Jersey pink.svg Giro d'Italia
Jersey yellow.svg Tour de France DNF
Jersey red.svg Vuelta a España 3 4
Major stage race general classification results
Race202220232024
Jersey yellow-whitebar.svg Paris–Nice
MaillotAzul.PNG Tirreno–Adriatico 2
MaillotVolta.png Volta a Catalunya 5
Jersey yellow.svg Tour of the Basque Country 1
Jersey yellow.svg Tour de Romandie 4 16 5
Jersey yellow-bluebar.svg Critérium du Dauphiné DNF DNF
Jersey yellow.svg Tour de Suisse 2
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

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References

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