UAE Team Emirates aim for the Vuelta podium as Juan Ayuso sets his sights on the Angliru

Ayuso and João Almeida look ahead to the final week of the Vuelta a España, as Jumbo-Visma sit pretty in 1-2-3

08:00, Tuesday 12th September 2023

George Poole

Junior Writer

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Juan Ayuso must find a way to infiltrate the Jumbo-Visma lockdown at the top of the GC

Just 20 years of age and in only his second Grand Tour, any other rider would be chuffed to be sitting fourth overall coming out of the final rest day of the Vuelta a España. But Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) is no ordinary rider, and already has a podium finish from this race on his Grand Tour debut. For the Spaniard, the ambitions for him and his team remain firmly set on the podium come the end of this week.

Ayuso happy to wear the white jersey, but has higher goals in the Vuelta

“This year, I do feel like the white jersey is special because as you say, it is the first time it is actually mine,” Ayuso comments, acknowledging that he wore the white jersey for most of the 2022 Vuelta on behalf of its true leader, red jersey holder Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step).

“But I think the ambitions and the objectives are a podium and a stage victory more than the white jersey, but as I say, it is still special because it’s the first time it is mine and it is nice to wear it.”

Humble but determined, Ayuso cut a confident figure during UAE Team Emirates’ rest day press conference. Such self-belief is not without justification, with the 20-year-old well on his way to proving that not only was last year’s Vuelta not a one-off, but for the youngster, it was just the beginning of his journey to becoming a Grand Tour champion.

“I think last year I was also entering the second rest day being fourth or fifth on GC, but I was five minutes away from the leader’s jersey,” assesses Ayuso. “This year it’s two minutes or so, and a big part of it [Sepp Kuss’ advantage] is because of a big breakaway.”

“If you look at second and third [Roglič and Vingegaard], I don’t how far I am off Roglič, but I think I am less than one minute - so I think that shows that I have improved a lot and I am happy with that.”

Ayuso is almost correct, his current time deficit to Primož Roglič actually sits at precisely a minute, whilst Jonas Vingegaard holds a 53-second lead over the Spaniard. As for race leader and the rider currently at the top of Jumbo-Visma’s 1-2-3 podium lockout, Sepp Kuss, the entirety of his advantage over Ayuso was taken as a result of his infiltration of the stage 6 breakaway.

On that day, the American gained 2:59 over Ayuso, who finished only seven seconds down on Roglič and Vingegaard, as Jumbo-Visma enjoyed the best day of their race up to that point.

Of course, Kuss’s lead over Ayuso now stands at 2:37, and having not only survived but thrived on the stage 13 summit finish atop the Col du Tourmalet, the American looks good value to see out his surprise GC bid between now and Sunday evening. In the face of this surprising inclusion in the GC shakeup, UAE Team Emirates must brainstorm their plan of attack.

João Almeida: ‘I tried to go in the breakaway, but Jumbo-Visma wouldn’t let me go’

With UAE Team Emirates currently having their own three riders inside the top 10 - with Ayuso joined by Marc Soler in sixth and João Almeida in tenth - the natural move would be to send one of these riders up the road in a breakaway, either in search of their own time gains over the Jumbo-Visma trio or to operate as a satellite rider for an attack from Ayuso himself. But as Almeida has revealed, such a plan looks futile in the face of Jumbo-Visma’s strength as a team.

“I tried to go in the breakaway [on stage 15], but Jumbo-Visma wouldn’t let me go, so I think that is pretty hard to do right now. But we will see how it goes day by day, and we will find a plan eventually.”

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Not only are Jumbo-Visma strong in the mountains with Attila Valter and Wilco Kelderman performing extremely well, but they are more than capable of captaining the entire peloton through the work of Jan Tratnik, Dylan van Baarle and Robert Gesink. As Geraint Thomas recognised, “When you have strong leadership then everyone else can go up a level with that.”

In the face of this, the chances of Almeida or Soler being allowed to enter a breakaway look incredibly slim - even despite his recent illness causing him to tumble to over eight minutes adrift of the red jersey - and thus UAE Team Emirates must turn their focus elsewhere in the hope of derailing Jumbo-Visma’s procession to Madrid.

Juan Ayuso: ‘I think Angliru may be the stage that suits us best

The Col du Tourmalet highlighted the principle problem facing Ayuso and those just off the podium, namely the numerical advantage of Jumbo-Visma. With three riders at the top of the GC, the Dutch superteam are able to mark practically every move that is made against them, and in turn, dissuade their rivals from riding offensively.

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Jumbo-Visma were proactive on this front during stage 13, sending Vingegaard up the road with an attack 8km from the finish. Behind it was Enric Mas of Movistar who took up the first sustained chase, but stuck to his wheel like glue was Kuss, whilst the trailing Ayuso was shadowed immediately by Roglič. Knowing that their work was only serving to pull one of the Jumbo-Visma leaders back to the head of the race - given the advantage of sitting in the wheels - Mas and Ayuso both relaxed their efforts and this allowed Vingegaard to sail away to the stage win.

Enric Mas (Movistar) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) found themselves cruelly shadowed by Jumbo-Visma on stage 13

For each of their presumed attacks this week, the likes of Mas and Ayuso are almost guaranteed to have at least one Jumbo-Visma rider on their wheel, a handbrake that usually sounds a death knell to attacking riding. To counteract this problem, Ayuso believes the Altu de l’Angliru on stage 17 holds the most promise for those looking to leapfrog Jumbo-Visma in the GC.

“I think Angliru may be the stage that suits us best,” he openly admitted, “because the climb is the hardest.”

“When we arrive to Angliru, being on the wheel is not so important. So [Jumbo-Visma] having three guys like they did on Tourmalet, it does not have such [an] effect because going on the wheel is not an advantage. So I think for us, the best stage is Angliru. On the day, we just have to hope that they don’t have the legs and we can drop them."

Watch: Angliru, a GCN+ original film

Ayuso will surely reflect on the Angliru’s last appearance at the Vuelta as cause for optimism, with Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) attacking on his own and serving to put Roglič into extreme difficulty - something that almost cost the Slovenian his second Vuelta title.

Funnily enough, and as has usually been the case for Jumbo-Visma during their Grand Tour victories, it was up to Kuss to pace Roglič in the upper reaches of the Angliru. But the limits to drafting on such steep terrain were made evident. Kuss was noticeably fresher than his teammate but could do little other than provide moral support as the pair slowly made their way to the Angliru’s summit.

Ayuso will no doubt hope that Roglič suffers another bad experience with the Angliru on Wednesday's stage 17, as the peloton ventures from Ribadesella/Ribeseya to the Altu de l'Angliru. That may be one of Jumbo-Visma’s leaders dealt with, at least. For Almeida, the secret to beating Jumbo-Visma may lie in cooperation with their rivals.

Could the Spanish Armada plot the downfall of Jumbo-Visma?

When asked whether or not an alliance with other teams could be on the cards in the final week of the Vuelta, Almeida was surprisingly frank in his response.

“Yes, it is the only way we can do it is if we work with each other, like we did [on stage 15] a little bit. It’s going to be hard, but we need to try.”

Behind Ayuso in the current GC standings are Mas in fifth, teammate Soler in sixth, and Bahrain-Victorious’ Mikel Landa in seventh. Ayuso, Mas and Landa have all finished on Grand Tour podiums before, and therefore a fourth or fifth-place finish would mean very little, whilst Soler’s duty is to do everything possible to help his younger teammate. This makes the prospect of the final week more than a little intriguing, despite Jumbo-Visma holding all the cards on the face of it.

Time is running out for Jumbo-Visma's rivals to make a true tilt at the red jersey

In his answer, Almeida hinted at the prospect of UAE Team Emirates, Movistar and Bahrain-Victorious colluding in an attempt to disrupt Jumbo-Visma’s hegemony, and we must not forget the presence of Bora-Hansgrohe in eighth and ninth, with Aleksandr Vlasov and Cian Uijtdebroeks, respectively. The latter would be delighted to hold onto a top-10 finish, but Vlasov will surely be keen to get involved in any potential ambush.

Although cross-team cooperation is rarely seen in the mountain stages of Grand Tours, the pride of Spain is on the line for those sitting between fourth and seventh, and each of them has every reason to throw the kitchen sink at knocking Jumbo-Visma from their perch.

Ayuso moved from fourth to third between the final rest day and the finish in Madrid last season: Who’s to say he can’t replicate that, or even better this time around?

“I think from what I saw last year and what I’m feeling up to now, I’m not getting better [throughout the race], but I’m maintaining my level quite well and I’m going into the third week not with freshness, but ready to take on these hard stages. So I am going in with some confidence.”

If you head to our Vuelta a España landing page, you will find everything you need to know about the race, including our race preview, the route, start list and individual stage previews. Check it out for all that and more.