{"id":118043,"date":"2025-09-04T00:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/118043\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T00:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:42:09","slug":"pedro-delgado-adds-fuel-to-the-ayuso-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/118043\/","title":{"rendered":"Pedro Delgado adds fuel to the Ayuso fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid the fierce battle for La Vuelta\u2019s red jersey, an off-bike controversy has stolen the spotlight: Juan Ayuso\u2019s public fallout with UAE Team Emirates. Despite being under contract until 2028, the team confirmed this week that Ayuso will leave at the end of the season<\/a> \u2014 a move that surprised many and ignited a wave of reactions, none more vocal than that of the rider himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to damage my image,\u201d Ayuso said in a fiery statement before Tuesday\u2019s stage.<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s been one humiliation after another. This has been a dictatorship.\u201d The 22-year-old, who has already won a stage in this Vuelta, did not hold back \u2014 even after team boss Joxean Matxin publicly extended an olive branch. Ayuso\u2019s comments raised eyebrows on Cycling Twitter\u2122. (Since Ayuso had reportedly been pushing for an exit for over a year.)<\/p>\n

Now, a Spanish cycling legend has weighed in on the controversy: Pedro Delgado. The Spaniard, who won the Tour de France once and Vuelta twice, is now a commentator for RTVE. Delgado expressed confusion at the rider\u2019s handling of the situation.<\/p>\n

When a Tour de France champ was 2 minutes late to the prologue<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t get it,\u201d he said, as reported by Marca<\/a>. \u201cAyuso wanted to leave, and now he\u2019s free to go. So what\u2019s with the outburst? If you\u2019ve already achieved what you wanted, why throw more fuel on the fire?\u201d<\/p>\n

Delgado recalled that Ayuso had other teams interested in him\u2013teams like Bora and Astana last year but stayed put due to contractual obligations. With the help of his new agent, Giuseppe Lombardi, he has now secured his release. From Delgado\u2019s point of view, that should have been the end of the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t get out then, but now he has. Emirates didn\u2019t have to let him go, yet they did. That should be good news. I don\u2019t see why he\u2019s still so angry,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Carlos de Andr\u00e9s, Delgado\u2019s broadcast partner, said the same thing. \u201cHe could\u2019ve waited until next season to share his side. But today, it seemed like he came out already planning to vent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayuso is expected to join Lidl-Trek in 2026, but with over a week of racing still left and Jo\u00e3o Almeida in the hunt for overall victory, questions remain about how Ayuso will fit into the UAE team\u2019s plans for the remainder of the Vuelta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid the fierce battle for La Vuelta\u2019s red jersey, an off-bike controversy has stolen the spotlight: Juan Ayuso\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[37377,49,48,635,42478,65815,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-118043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-2025-vuelta-a-espana","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-juan-ayuso","13":"tag-pedro-delgado","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}