It’s communication, not ego
UAE have made it official: Juan Ayuso is leaving the team. The announcement came with unusually harsh words, with references to a “dictatorship” and “damage to his image”
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La Vuelta resumed with another unipuerto stage – the fourth so far – and the riders seemed to be fully recovered after the break. On a day that screamed “breakaway”, the opening two hours were raced at nearly 50 km/h, with around 100 kilometres of constant, failed break attempts. It’s always the speed that kills, not the bullet.
It wasn’t until the final third of the stage that a group of 30 riders finally went clear, though none of the big GC contenders were among them.
Movistar’s Javi Romo was the first to give it a go solo, but the decisive selection came a few kilometres later. In the final group of nine, Movistar still had Pablo Castrillo, who attacked on the climb to Belagua, only to be shut down by the ever-aggressive Jay Vine.
With one single punchy move, the Australian sealed his second stage win of this Vuelta – a rider who, despite his inconsistency, has become something of a specialist on these one-climb days so typical of the Spanish Grand Tour.
Vine’s win makes the fourth so far for UAE in just 10 days of racing, while João Almeida tried a timid attack from the favourites’ group, lacking the punch to make a difference.
The main contenders arrived together – and, for the record, Juan Ayuso did a short stint of work for Almeida today. The timing is striking: just one day after UAE’s official statement during the rest day confirming Ayuso’s contract termination at the end of the season, despite having been signed until 2028.
Elsewhere, Torstein Træen finally lost the red jersey, which returns for the third time to Jonas Vingegaard – and quite possibly to stay until Madrid.
But the man of the day was Juan Ayuso. Both the team’s and the rider’s statements were unusually rough, but his words before the start today were some of the most critic ever heard from a rider towards his own team while still racing in their colours.
This is what Ayuso said today just before of the stage (translated from Spanish):
“I don’t agree with the team’s statement. It was released around 7pm (Spanish time) and I was only notified half an hour earlier. Some journalists I know well told me they’d already been tipped off at midday.
We had agreed to announce my departure after the Vuelta, so as not to affect performance or the team environment. Why it was so sudden is a question for them. I know why they did it: to try and damage my image, just like in the statement. They talk about values and unity… but yesterday they exploited some unfortunate words from Almeida [who had complained on Sunday about not having more teammates alongside him when Ayuso lost 22 minutes]. Almeida has apologised with me.
It’s been one lack of respect after another from the team management. I’d like to finish this Vuelta as best as possible. I’m happy, next year will be a fresh start.
My relationship with my teammates, even with Almeida despite what people say, is good. I’d have liked to end things well with the team – that’s what we were trying to do in the negotiations before the Vuelta – but sometimes it isn’t possible.
When it’s a dictatorship and they hold unilateral power over you… In the half-hour I had to talk with the team before the statement went out, I told them I disagreed, and their response was that the first draft had been even worse, so I should be grateful.”
Wow.
This saga has been simmering all year and throughout the Vuelta, but now it has boiled over into full-blown drama, with both sides responsible. Ayuso seems set for Lidl-Trek, but UAE are left with a reputational crisis that raises deeper questions: What kind of team are they without Pogačar? Do they lack clear leadership in his absence? What about their race strategies? And, crucially, is this the right place for the world’s brightest young talents to join and develop in long-term contracts?
Ayuso’s strained relationship with his team mates dates back almost to the very start of his time there. His difficult character had been talked about even before he turned pro, and in his first months with UAE there was already friction.
One early flashpoint came with Pogačar himself, when the team thought it appropriate to pit the two against each other in a test on Coll de Rates – the climb that has become the benchmark for pre-season trials. January 2022.
At its core, the Ayuso affair isn’t just about ego, ambition, or overlapping objectives – it’s about a string of poor communication choices.
7 communication mistakes in the Ayuso affair
1. Lack of leadership
Despite the tension between Ayuso and Almeida at the 2023 Vuelta, or the calendar choices that almost always avoided putting the Spaniard alongside Almeida and Pogačar, there is a turning point that changes everything: Galibier, Tour de France 2024.
Almeida made a gesture for Ayuso to work in support of Pogačar rather than sitting on the wheels, which ended up in a rather circus-like scene on the legendary summit.
There, the directors’ statements were lukewarm, and it was Ayuso himself, embroiled in the conflict, who took on the role of spokesperson to criticise Almeida’s gesture in front of the Spanish press.
HLN revealed some months ago that Ayuso had hired Giovanni Lombardi, a veteran agent, to represent him instead of his father and mediate with UAE to terminate his contract… and many have spoken on the matter without a unified discourse.
In fact, after the explosive statements from the Spaniard, both Matxín and Almeida, as well as Mauro Gianetti, the team’s CEO and the target of many of Ayuso’s veiled criticisms, have publicly commented on the situation. No one led UAE’s communication, and there has been no single strong spokesperson – point one in any crisis situation.