‘Would I sign up for silver now? No’ – Juan Ayuso is only thinking about the rainbow jersey at the Road World Championships

Juan Ayuso leads Spain’s selection at the elite men’s road race at the Road World Championships, and he’s going all out for the rainbow jersey on Sunday.

The Spaniard is taking on the elite road race for the second time in his career and heads up an eight-man selection for the 267.5km race.

While defending champion Tadej Pogačar and time trial champion Remco Evenepoel might be the outright favourites for the win in Kigali, Ayuso doesn’t want to settle for anything less than the rainbow jersey.

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The 23-year-old told Marca and other Spanish media that he wouldn’t take a silver medal if he was offered it right now.

“I hope Remco and Tadej keep an eye on each other,” Ayuso said, speaking at an informal Spanish training camp in Navacerrada, near Madrid. The men’s road team and new national coach Alejandro Valverde will travel to Rwanda on Wednesday.

“I’m in second place with many others, but at a World Championships, after five and a half hours, your legs rule.

“Would I sign up for silver now? No. We’re going with the mentality of going all out.”

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Ayuso recently completed his final Grand Tour with UAE Team Emirates-XRG before departing the team next season. He has been linked to a move to Lidl-Trek for 2026.

He scored two solo stage wins at the Vuelta a España amid a public falling-out with his team, results which nonetheless underlined his form ahead of the Worlds.

Ayuso may be a natural GC rider, having scored wins at Tirreno-Adriatico, Itzulia Basque Country, and a Vuelta podium during his career, but he admitted that this World Championships is the one-day race he’s most looking forward to.

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“It’s the one-day race I’ve been most excited about since I became a professional,” Ayuso said.

“I feel better than expected, fresher than in other Grand Tours. Tomorrow, I have my last hard training session to really test how I feel.

“I’m aiming for everything, like the whole team. The ambition is huge. It will be a very tough race, more than seven hours, and after the climb, it will be very difficult to control. That’s when everything will explode.”

The tough conditions of the World Championships route – 6,000 metres of climbing and seven hours of racing – will only be made more difficult by the altitude, Ayuso said. It’s something that will take its toll on riders who aren’t used to racing all day at the altitude of high Alpine passes.

“What causes me the most uncertainty is the air quality. At 1,500 metres, you can already feel the wear and tear, and I’ve been told that it’s harder to breathe there than usual. I’ve never raced in those conditions.”

Ayuso will be backed up by a team fully supporting him on Sunday, with Marc Soler, Abel Balderstone, Iván Romeo, Carlos Verona, Carlos Canal, Roger Adrià, and Raúl García Pierna filling out the Spanish selection.

The team will look to “anticipate the race”, Ayuso said, hoping to send riders up the road in breakaway moves. The atmosphere among the squad is good, too.

“The atmosphere is very good. Today we trained for four hours and laughed for four hours. That, during a tough time of the World Championships, can help us a lot,” said Ayuso.

“With the team we have, we have to try to get people ahead of us. We’ve always seen this at the World Championships: anticipating the race can make the difference.”

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