Juan Ayuso: 'No surprise' to lose Tour de Romandie leader's jersey
'I knew that still I’m not♐ in shape' says Spaniard, despite stage ♐3 time trial win

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:UAE Team Emirates picked up a second straight stage win at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de Romandie on Saturday and kept the leader's jersey within the team, but it was not overnight leader 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Juan Ayuso who ﷽climbed to the stage 4 victory on Thyon 2000.
While 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Adam Yates soared to the top of the climb and the top of the G𓆏C standings, Ayuso was working at his own pace well off the back.
A day after 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:winning the stage 3 time trial, his GC bid was o🌃ver, with a te🧔ammate picking up the slack with aplomb.
Given the yellow jersey he was wearing, Ayuso's grind up♎ the final climb drew some attention from the💯 TV cameras, but the 20-year-old Spaniard was not surprised in the aftermath of the cold day in the Alps. Indeed, he had been clear even after his stage 3 victory that he is not at his best as he continues to build back from a leg issue that kept him from racing all season until now.
"ജNobody really believed me because yesterday I won. But I knew that still I’m not in shape," Ayuso said after Saturday's stage. "🔜I come from a very hard injury, and I knew that I wasn’t going to be there.
"For me, it was a surprisღe yesterday, but I think this wꦛas no surprise. I came to this race thinking I wasn’t even going to push; I was just going to help the team and try to finish the race and see how the injury went."
Ayuso, who made a stirring Grand Tour debut last year with his podium performance at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Vuelta a España, has 🙈been dealing with leg pain for months. It has not been easy for doctors to diagnose the problem, with neuralgia the suspected culprit now. Romandie is his first race of the year, and he seems to have come into the event with low expectations.
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All things considered, then, to come out of the Tour de Romandie with a WorldTour stage victory is major boon for Ayus💦o, while Saturday's finish – 3:28 down on Yates a😼fter dropping 8km from the line – did not seem to be any cause for concern.
"What happened yesterday is something that I will take with me forever but what happened today is normaဣl due to how I arrived [at the race]𓂃," Ayuso said."
Ayuso pointed out after his time trial win that he was feeling "worse each day," 🐓so with one stage now left to race, he's sꦉtarting to think about recovering.
"After I finish this, I’ll have a rest because I’m really pushing a꧑nd I’m really tired," Ayuso said. "I think I’ll come back for the Tour de Suisse. If I feel good, then maybe I’ll do some races before but I think the next race is Suisse."
Regardless of how Ayuso closes out the Tour de Romandie, UAE Team Emirates will continue to try to defend theꦦ race leader's jersey, now on the shoulders of Adam Yate🃏s, for one more day. The 2023 Tour de Romandie concludes on Sunday with a 170.8km stage 5 from Vufflens-la-Ville to Geneva.
Dane has been a sports writer and editor for many years, and makes a return to Cyclingnews as a contributor in 2022. He has൩ a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia.