"It's a dictatorship, they want to hurt me": open warfare at the Vuelta

BarcelonaIt won't be easy getting on the UAE team bus these days at the Vuelta a Espana. The fragile relationship between the team's stars exploded in the middle of the competition, prompting team management to publicly punish Spaniard Juan Ayuso. The young rider from Alicante, currently the biggest star of Spanish cycling, has counterattacked, stating that he lives in "a dictatorship" where "they want to damage" his "image." The final days of competition could be complicated within the Emirates-based team.

Ayuso didn't take kindly to seeing his team making him work for Portuguese rider João Almeida, and last Sunday, on the stage to Valdezcaray, he broke away, without competing, leaving Almeida alone against his rival, Jonas Vingegaard. As other cyclists have done before, he didn't follow team orders. It was the final straw. Almeida complained about his teammate, who said he didn't have the energy to ride that day. The UAE, therefore, accelerated the talks it was already holding with the Xàbia rider to terminate his contract and announced that Ayuso will not continue with them, although he had a contract until 2028. Ayuso is fine with it now, because he will be able to follow his own path, but he didn't like the way it was handled.

"I don't understand why the team issued a statement without warning. They want to tarnish my image," he said on Cope radio at the start of the tenth stage of the Vuelta. "I have suffered a lack of respect. The statement comes out at 7 p.m. and they give me 30 minutes' notice. It was agreed to make the statement at the end of the Vuelta, not now. They talk about values like being united, but they do other things. It's a dictatorship," he added. After the stage in Valdezcaray, Almeida publicly complained about Ayuso, implying that he didn't want to help him. "I've already spoken with him, everything is resolved. I wasn't well and couldn't help him on that stage," explained the Alicante native today. He won one of the mountain stages in Andorra, but has dropped out of the race in others.

Ayuso will finish the season with the UAE, the team he joined in 2021. "Juan has been a valuable talent and we are grateful for what we have built together. At the same time, our sporting project has always focused on continuity, group harmony, and building a winning team with the most important players, of which this is the best, and which is in the best interests of our organization," said Swiss Mauro Gianetti, the team's general manager, without hiding the fact that they do not like Ayuso's personality, who won the stage between Andorra la Vella and Cerler on the very day his representative, the Italian Giovanni Lombardi, was negotiating the departure with the UAE. To celebrate the success, he covered his ears, a clear reference to the criticism he has received within his team.

Ayuso has seen his role within the team change. The UAE's great leader is Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, the best rider in the world at the moment, who is absent from the Vuelta. However, the Spaniard hasn't been able to see how team officials are placing him below João Almeida. Already in 2024, the Portuguese publicly complained about Ayuso, implying that she wasn't sacrificing enough to help Pogačar. As if that weren't enough, in the last Giro d'Italia, when Ayuso seemed like he could shine, Mexican Isaac del Toro performed at a very high level, creating a new conflict of interest within the team. Ayuso, therefore, has clearly seen that it's time for him to leave. Various international cycling media outlets are placing Juan Ayuso in 2026 with the Lidl-Trek team.

Vingegaard regains the lead.

For now, the UAE team can celebrate a few things, such as the strong form of Australian Jay Vine, who won the 175.3-kilometer tenth stage between Arguedas and the Larra Belagua pass. Now, Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard (Visma) has reclaimed the red leader's jersey, beating Norway's Torstein Traeen (Bahrain), who lost two minutes. Almeida finished at the same time as Vingegaard and remains 40 seconds behind him in the overall standings. He has a chance of winning, but he knows that Ayuso probably won't be able to help him in the final days.