The Spanish climber finished in second place on the first mountaintop finish of the Volta ao Algarve and moves into the general classification lead
Under the orange glow of Portugal’s evening sun, Juan Ayuso and his teammates battled up the brutal Alto de Fóia climb to end the second stage of Volta ao Algarve. The unrelenting slopes set the backdrop for the Spanish rider’s first true climbing test of the season – one he passed with flying colours. Bold and unafraid, Lidl-Trek took the race on from the beginning, ensuring that GC-leader Ayuso was well-protected in the kilometers leading up to the final Fóia showdown. At the bottom of the ascent, Héctor Álvarez set a tough tempo to whittle down the peloton, before handing over to Carlos Verona and Lennard Kämna who continued the pacesetting.
Behind Ayuso waited with patience as the group steadily lessened in size, until he eventually emerged as one of the strongest climbers in the race alongside Paul Sexias. As the summit came into view, the pair sprinted for the stage victory, with Ayuso finishing in second place by the narrowest of margins. It was an impressive climbing debut in Lidl-Trek colours for the Spanish rider and he now wears the leader’s jersey at the Volta ao Algarve with an individual time trial coming up tomorrow.
The team did an amazing job, we were in good position all day and on the last climb we did exactly what we said on the bus to do.
Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images
Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images
Juan's view from the race
“[The sprint] was really tight, I think I lost by less than half a wheel so it’s a pity, but it is what it is. Paul also deserves the win. I wanted to get the win to thank the great work of my teammates today but it wasn’t meant to be today, but we still have tomorrow and the last day to fight for the win. It was a difficult sprint, I think I made a mistake because I knew I had to enter the second last corner first, and Paul was more intelligent than me and he managed to anticipate. When he started his sprint he started with two bike [lengths] ahead of me. I tried to catch up but I didn’t have enough time before the line.
We saw [the time trial] the other day and it’s quite a nice parcours, a lot left and right and up and down, so it will be hard. We’ll see what we can do.”
