UAE and Ayuso was a story that looked to click very well at first, but over the years did not fit together. Once the Spaniard encountered some problems from 2024 onwards, mainly at that year’s Tour de France where he didn’t seem to want to be at the full disposal of the team’s goals and then abandoned ill, things began to go sideways.
He was still given a leadership role at this year’s Giro, but a crash derailed his race, and in a team with so much talent he simply did not have room to follow his ambitions. Hence it was natural that a split would occur, with the decision being made this summer and Ayuso joining Lidl-Trek.
The two never actually raced together, showcasing the size of a modern World Tour team and how even teammates may not see each other all year long. But the Belgian never had a good impression of Ayuso and explains why:
We’ll miss him less for the team atmosphere
“Ayuso is certainly not my best friend, but I don’t know him well either. I did one training camp with him, and he rode twenty meters ahead of the group the whole time,” Vermeersch revealed in an interview with Bahamontes. “So he’s definitely not a team player”.
“I hear he’s good for his teammates when they’re riding for him and everything’s going well, but when he’s bad himself or when he has to return the favor, like in the Giro, things often go wrong,” Vermeersch believes. “We’ll definitely miss a few victories without him, because he is and remains a world-class rider. But we’ll miss him less for the team atmosphere.”