Lidl-Trek recognised that Sunday’s ascent was not the best of days for co-leader Juan Ayuso, but are hoping that the young Spaniard will be able to turn things around in the time trial and the final week of the Tour de France.
Ayuso finished eighth at two minutes down on stage 15, and this was after he needed support from Quinn Simmons to stem the time loss to stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and the rest of the GC contenders.
The Spanish rider, now sixth overall, is at 7:29 on Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), whilst his Lidl Trek teammate Mattias Skjelmose, slightly ahead of Ayuso on Sunday’s final climb, is now eighth overall at 9:38.
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Statements by the rider after the stage were limited, but head sports director Steven de Jongh explained to Cyclingnews on Monday the difficulties Ayuso faced.
“He had a hard time on the last climb, and he tried to save his GC and minimise the losses,” he said.
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As for whether it was a bad day or if he was feeling ill, De Jongh answered simply “Who knows? It was just missing at the end, and that was it.”
As for Skjelmose, De Jongh argued that “it was all good with him. Like the other day, he struggled when the pace went higher, but he could manage his pace well, so he was quite good, [we’re] quite happy with him.”
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Lidl-Trek are keen to move on to the stage 16 time trial, which De Jongh says “is quite far from our hotel, so we’ve seen it already and the recon will be tomorrow. But we have good hopes.”
In terms of what would constitute a good time trial for Ayuso, who has delivered some impressive performances in the past, De Jongh was unwilling to pin down what the team’s expectations would be, saying “I think that is hard to answer.”
“I think if we have the expected time and he can deliver his numbers, and he’s on that, then we are happy and if he’s far from that, then we are not happy.
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“Stage 17 will be another day for our guys fighting for green [with Mads Pedersen]. And then we go into a three-stage mountain block where I think everything will be decided.”
The absence of Jonas Vingegaard after the Visma-Lease a Bike racer crashed out is bound to affect the GC battle, albeit not the fight for yellow itself, but certainly who can finish where in the other two spots. And that’s something that affects both Ayuso’s and Skjelmose’s chances on GC.
“It’s sad to see him leave like that. It was very unfortunate he had to crash and then break his collarbone. It’s not nice. The GC battle changes too, in that you have one team less to control the race,” De Jongh said.
“I think Remco will maybe secure the [final] second place for tomorrow after the TT. Then the battle for third will be in the last three days. It’s going to go down to the young ones to decide that one.”
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