{"id":157626,"date":"2025-06-04T13:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T13:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/157626\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T13:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T13:48:09","slug":"juan-ayuso-set-for-quiet-second-half-of-2025-after-giro-ditalia-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/157626\/","title":{"rendered":"Juan Ayuso set for quiet second half of 2025 after Giro d\u2019Italia heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What began as a season of great promise for <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/juan-ayuso\" title=\"Juan Ayuso\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Juan Ayuso<\/a> has<br \/>\nquickly unravelled into a long and cautious road to recovery. The 23-year-old<br \/>\nSpanish talent entered the 2025 Giro d\u2019Italia as one of the pre-race<br \/>\nfavourites, but his campaign was derailed by a crash, a young teammate, and<br \/>\neventually, an unusual sting that forced him out of the race altogether.Now, with UAE Team Emirates \u2013 XRG shifting its focus to<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/tadej-pogacar\" title=\"Tadej Pogacar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tadej Pogacar<\/a>, Ayuso faces a quiet remainder of the season, and a rebuilding<br \/>\nprocess after what he hoped would be a defining year.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Ayuso showed strong form in the opening week, taking a stage<br \/>\nwin and sitting well within the GC picture. But it all began to fall apart<br \/>\nduring the gravel stage to Siena. A crash on the treacherous surface left him<br \/>\nwith lingering knee pain that would become a constant issue throughout the<br \/>\nrace. While he initially battled on, the momentum shifted within UAE Team<br \/>\nEmirates as young Mexican sensation Isaac Del Toro emerged as the new GC<br \/>\nleader.<\/p>\n<p>The symbolic passing of the torch came quietly, but<br \/>\ndecisively. Ayuso went from protected rider to support act, and eventually to<br \/>\nthe sidelines altogether after suffering a bizarre bee sting that caused his<br \/>\neye to swell shut. His Giro ended with a DNF and questions about what comes<br \/>\nnext.<\/p>\n<p>According to AS, Ayuso is now expected to spend several<br \/>\nweeks off the bike as he recovers from the inflammation and knee injury that<br \/>\nplagued his final days at the Giro. He had prepared solely for the Italian<br \/>\nGrand Tour, a race that was meant to be his chance to lead the team without<br \/>\nPogacar in the mix. But with Pogacar now confirmed to lead UAE\u2019s Tour de France<br \/>\ncampaign, and quite possibly the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a too, Ayuso\u2019s role in 2025\u2019s<br \/>\nremaining Grand Tours is officially off the table.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Ayuso will aim to return gradually, with the Spanish<br \/>\nNational Championships in Sierra Nevada from 26 to 29 June likely to mark his<br \/>\nfirst race back, albeit with low expectations regarding form.<\/p>\n<p>From there, he will line up at the Clasica San Sebasti\u00e1n, a<br \/>\nrace that historically suits climbers, and build towards what could be his most<br \/>\nimportant goal in the back half of the year: the 2025 World Championships. This<br \/>\nyear\u2019s Worlds feature a mountainous course that could play into Ayuso\u2019s<br \/>\nstrengths, assuming he can regain condition.<\/p>\n<p>The autumn calendar may also offer a path to redemption. He<br \/>\nis pencilled in to ride key one-day Italian classics such as the Giro<br \/>\ndell\u2019Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine, although at present, his participation in Il<br \/>\nLombardia, the final Monument of the season, is uncertain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What began as a season of great promise for Juan Ayuso has quickly unravelled into a long and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-157626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114625413342186190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}