Juan Ayuso may be only going into his first full season with UAE Team Emirates, but the man who coaches both him and Tadej Pogačar believes the young Spanish rider is already close to Pogačar's level.
And Iñigo San Millán says if Ayuso produces his recent training form in races, he will be one of the top riders in the pro peloton already.
Just over a week ago Pogačar set a new record for the Coll de Rates; a 9.7km climb with an average gradient of 6.6 per cent. During his ride - as part of a UAE Team Emirates training camp in southern Spain - the two-time Tour winner rode the climb in 24:50.
That was 2:11 faster than the previous best for the climb on Strava, set by Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers). Ayuso, who took in some late season races with new team UAE Team Emirates last year, was with Pogačar on the Coll de Rates last week and was just 14 seconds slower than his team leader.
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The young Spanish rider - regarded by many as the next big Grand Tour rider in pro cycling - averaged 6.5w/kg for the near 10km climb. He clearly did more than enough for his and Pogačar's coach to start comparing the two riders.
"He thinks that Tadej is not his ceiling - but that his ceiling is to be better than Tadej,” San Millán told El País of the youngster who won all of the classifications at last year's Baby Giro as well as three stages.
“I put both of them together at the same time (on Coll de Rates) so they would get itchy - so that Tadej could see that he couldn’t relax because Ayuso is so strong. And also so that Ayuso can see that he is getting closer to Tadej. On the Coll de Rates, the intensity was similar to that of a Tour stage. If Ayuso does this in a race which Tadej isn’t…"
Coach San Millán added Ayuso - who won all the classifications at the Baby Giro and three stages last year - has "big ambition" and "dreams big", even though he only turned pro in mid June last year when he took up his place at UAE Team Emirates having signed a contract with them aged just 17 years.
“Ayuso says what he thinks, but he knows that Tadej has the stripes this year," said San Millán. "And he is very professional. These (riders) are people from another planet, competitive animals, they are made for this. They do not know how to live without the ambition to win, to be the best in the world. It’s an addiction.”
