‘He’s doing a different race than us’ – Juan Ayuso is in the fight for the podium but accepts Tadej Pogačar is in a race of his own

“Tadej is on a different level, and he’s doing a different race than us,” Ayuso said after the stage in the Massif Central mountains.

Latest Videos From

“I’m quite happy how the day went; it was a super hard day. UAE had an amazing day, all of the team was on an exceptional day and rode really hard, so it was a really good tough day.

“I’m happy that me and Skjelly (Mattias Skjelmose) could be in the final, gain some time on some of our rivals and arrive in the podium group. The group that’s going to play out the podium arrived together, and it’s nice to be back in the jersey.”

You may like

Paul Seixas is just 13 seconds behind Ayuso in the GC and the best young rider competition, with Del Toro slipping to seventh in the GC and third in the white jersey competition.

Six riders are within 90 seconds in the fight for second and third behind Pogačar. Ayuso knows he is in the fight for the podium.

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!

“I think every day you have to give the best you have because we’re seeing that there are five or six riders aiming for two spots on the podium,” he said.

“So it’s going to be a really, really hard battle to be on the podium in Paris. We just have to focus day by day on ourselves. We did a really good ride today, and I think we were both happy.”

Lidl-Trek again had two riders in the select group, just like on stage 6 to Gavarnie-Gèdre in the Pyrenees. Ayuso said he and Skjelmose were simply unable to help with the chase of Pogačar.

“Obviously, I would have loved to cooperate, but I just didn’t have the legs,” he said.

“In the valley, we were really on the limit when Jonas was going hard. Even before the climb on the valley he was putting us on the limit. I was riding on the wheel at 450, 460 watts. I was doing everything I had to just hold the wheel.”