Juan Ayuso, the young star from UAE Team Emirates, was relieved to cross the finish line unscathed during the second stage of Vuelta a España. His day was far from smooth, as he grappled with multiple tire punctures throughout the entire stage.
“It’s been chaotic, I’ve had 3 punctures already, I’ve been under attack for a long time, with nails on the road, thank you very much to that person, I don’t know for what, to kill us?” Ayuso said in a post-race interview. He wasn’t the only affected rider, but the situation greatly frustrated the Spaniard. In the end, he made it home safely, without losing time on the rainy day and without crashing, unlike Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas.
Regarding the decision to time riders at the 9-kilometer mark, Ayuso made it clear that it was the riders who pressed for it and not doing so would have been very dangerous, expressing critical thoughts about the organization of Vuelta a España.
“It wasn’t slow, there was a lot of tension due to the rain, we rode cautiously. I was happy to arrive safe and sound. Unlike yesterday, which was a disaster for the organization, today was tough, but they made the right decision because the road is slippery, it’s an ice rink, and risking our necks at the first change wouldn’t have made sense.”
Concluding, the Spanish rider referred to the Monday stage in Andorra, which he expects to be quite challenging: “It’s going to be very tough, it’s going to rain, it’s going to rain, the climb has 2-3 quite difficult kilometers, we’ll have to see what happens and think about the days to come.”
Watch the video: