{"id":175528,"date":"2025-09-28T16:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T16:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/175528\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T16:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T16:13:08","slug":"tour-of-flanders-in-the-future-will-be-tough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/175528\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour of Flanders in the future will be tough"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a bit sadistic, but seeing someone crack like Juan Ayuso<\/a> on the Wall of Kigali is also what makes cycling so beautiful. The 23-year-old Spaniard has been the subject of conversation in recent weeks due to his departure from UAE Emirates-XRG<\/a>, his transfer to Lidl-Trek<\/a>, and his statement that he came to the World Championships to win. Ayuso also went all-in, but lost in style.\u201cI definitely see myself as rainbow jersey material. I would be lying if I said otherwise\u2014it’s a dream,\u201d he said boldly in the week before the World Championships<\/a>. “There are many factors, but if I weren’t convinced of myself, I wouldn’t be here. I’m not signing up for silver. With the team we have, and considering I’m representing Spain, I have to give it my all. ‘And so Ayuso stood on the pedals, leaned over his handlebars, and nestled into the wheel of Tadej Pogacar<\/a> when he accelerated 104 kilometers from the finish on Mount Kigali. At the top of the climb, only Ayuso was with him, and eventually Isaac Del Toro<\/a> joined them. \u201cWhen the race opened up, I was there,\u201d Ayuso analyzed after the race on Eurosport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the video<\/p>\n

Ayuso breaks away in style on the Wall of Kigali<\/p>\n

Ayuso said he was well protected by the Spanish team, despite the early withdrawal of Marc Soler. As a result, he arrived reasonably fresh at the long climb of the day. \u201cI felt good during the climb; it was a long effort, and that suits me. I was able to stay with Tadej,\u201d he noted approvingly.<\/p>\n

However, after Mount Kigali came the Wall of Kigali, built on cobblestones, just like those in the local circuit; those proved to be Ayuso’s undoing. \u201cThe cobblestones were tough for me today, so I think the Tour of Flanders will be quite tough for me in the future if I ever ride it,\u201d he said jokingly.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the video<\/p>\n

Ayuso opted for chasing group<\/p>\n

Ayuso took his loss with his head held high. When he saw Pogacar and Del Toro ride away, he didn’t put any extra energy into chasing them. \u201cWhen I was dropped, I decided to stop and wait for the group. That’s bittersweet, because when the battle for the medals was decided, I was held up a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group with Remco Evenepoel, Ben Healy, Mattias Skjelmose, Tom Pidcock, and Jai Hindley rode away, and Ayuso just missed the move. \u201cI finished that lap ten seconds behind Remco’s group, so I would have liked to have been with that group to compete at the front of the race. It is what it is, I’m leaving here satisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a bit sadistic, but seeing someone crack like Juan Ayuso on the Wall of Kigali is also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-175528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}