It was a special day at the Volta ao Algarve which saw Juan Ayuso take both the stage victory and overall general classification in Lidl-Trek colours, helped by impressive support and dedication from his teammates
With one stage remaining at the Volta ao Algarve, Juan Ayuso held a lead of just seven seconds on the general classification. 148 kilometers and 2252 metres of elevation gain lay between him and his first stage race victory as part of Lidl-Trek. With such a narrow margin between the Spanish rider and Paul Seixas who sat in second place, the repeated attacks to try and isolate Ayuso were to be expected, and they came as soon as the flag dropped. He and his teammates, however, were astutely alert to the danger, so much so that Ayuso even picked up an additional bonus second during the opening intermediate sprint of the day which came after just seven kilometers.
A strong breakaway was established early in the stage and the race was blown apart on the first time up the Malhão climb, with Ayuso’s rivals aiming to isolate him. However, Héctor Álvarez, Carlos Verona and Lennard Kämna fought hard over the summit to regain contact with the front group on the descent and rode tirelessly in support of Ayuso to bring the breakaway back and set him up for the mountaintop finish on Malhão. From then, it was left to the 23-year-old to climb his way to victory.
(Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Ayuso came to the finish line in a group of just five riders and played a perfect tactical game in the sprint. Staying in the wheel of Oscar Onley until the final 50 metres, Ayuso came out of the slipstream as the finish line approached and lunged in front of the Ineos Grenadiers rider to take both the stage win and the overall victory in the Algarve. The final result was a culmination of hard work and dedication from the entire Lidl-Trek squad and sets the bar high for the rest of the season.
They showed that we were the strongest team in the race. That’s why I’m just super happy to win and be able to pay them back.
In Juan’s words
“From the start to the end, it was a very stressful and tense day. My job was to cover Paul Seixas in the finish and in the sprint. I had to respond when he tried to take some seconds but I’m just super proud of how the team rode all day, other teams put us under pressure from the start but Toms [Skujiņš] really controlled everything. We had groups of 30/40 guys trying to get in the breakaway from all the big teams to put us under pressure and my teammates just controlled it perfectly. In the final, it was quite nervous because the other teams tried to isolate me but Lenny [Kämna] did a great job and pulled a crazy amount to put me into the last climb in the perfect position to go for the win. Normally I would be really proud of my performance but today my team won the show and did an amazing job so this win is definitely for them.
After the climb I was left alone but I had confidence with how strong Hector has been all week, Lenny too, so I knew they’d come back. They asked me if they wanted to close the gap when [Florian] Lipowitz attacked but I said no and that I believed having a steady pace and with the legs they have that they’d be able to bring him back and they showed that we were the strongest team in the race. That’s why I’m just super happy to win and be able to pay them back.”
