Juan Ayuso, who signed for UAE Team Emirates on a five-year deal last year when he was just 17-years-old, has just wrapped up a dominant display at the Baby Giro. And now his pro debut has been brought forward as a result.
While he was not due to start riding with UAE Team Emirates until August 1st, the team has now decided to start him in the one-day Giro dell'Appennino which takes place on June 24th.
Ayuso rode the Baby Giro with Italian Continental team Colpack Ballan, collecting three stages and the overall title. He was a comprehensive winner - perhaps even more so than Tim Pidcock last year - and also claimed the points and climbers' classifications.
Earlier this year he won two Italian UCI-ranked one-day races for U23s; Trofeo Piva and Giro del Belvedere. He also competed in Coppi e Bartali (2.1), racing against WorldTour teams.
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And despite that race being his first stage race after leaving the junior ranks he took 5th on the final stage and was a very solid 17th overall.
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Last year, because of the pandemic, he rode just five UCI-ranked races in his second year as a junior, but won three of them; the Spanish junior road race and TT titles and Gipuzkoa Klasika, a one-day race in his native Spain.
As the U23 races at the Worlds were not held, the only races he rode for Span last year were the Europeans, where he placed 5th in the TT and 7th in the road race.
He joined a UAE Team Emirates training camp last year, when still a junior, and at that time he said he felt at home with the team.
"At the training camp I had the opportunity to see how the team actually worked. I was really impressed on how well the team was structured and the great atmosphere between the riders," he said.
"The decision of choosing UAE ahead of any other team is because the teams mentality is very similar to mine; a very ambitious mentality with a very hard work ethic behind it.
"The team is relatively new, and it is taking huge steps to improve each year. I have no doubts that the team will become the best team in the World Tour in the near future.”
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