just a year ago John Ayuso He burst onto the international cycling scene with a bang after a smashing victory in the Giro Ciclistico, the youth version of the classic Italian race, colloquially known as the “Baby Giro”. From Xàbia the cyclist took overall, three partial stage wins and the mountain and points classifications.

The exhibition has terminated Emirates, one of the strongest teams in the World Tour (max bike category), from its role at Colpack and will immediately claim him for the first team. Despite his youth (18 at the time, now 19), he didn’t want to wait for the team any longer and made his debut a few days later at the Giro de los Apennines, where he finished 17th, but was at his best until then. final moments.

Since then, Ayuso has been taking firm steps in his evolution without haste. This helps Tadej Pogacar, for example, become a partner for Emirates who can ensure they achieve multiple victories in the main races of the calendar. In this environment, Ayuso’s growth is “cooked” over a slow fire. At the end of 2021, he signed second place in Clásica Villafranca-Ordizia and a bronze medal in the European bottom 23. The only mole came on the Tour del Porvenir, where he came as a favorite and returned home early after a fall.

The tour will not run

As early as 2022, Ayuso has achieved remarkable performances in this first half of the year. At the Drome Classic (4th), Laigueglia Trophy (2nd in the Emirates exhibition that monopolized the podium), Volta a Catalunya (5th overall) and Tour de Romandía (4th and best junior overall). The slowdown at Dauphiné came when an illness forced him to leave the “top 10”.

The spring calendar left Ayuso very good feelings both for the results he has achieved and for his integration into Emirates, where he has been able to adapt to any role entrusted to him. He fought the best in some pretty tough races in both Catalonia and Romandía. At Volta he was close to victory at La Molina (only O’Connor surpassed him) and had honey on his lips after being beaten in a sprint by Higuita and Vlasov at Val d’Anniviers in Switzerland.

A priori, Ayuso is not expected to play any of the three “big” players this season.. He did not manage the Giro, will start a few days later and has not pre-registered for the Tour de France, where his teammate Pogacar retains the title, and will not compete in the Vuelta in August, except to his surprise.

a nomadic family

Despite his precocity, he’s not obsessed with debuting in the three-week races he knows he has to train for. That is, to prevent the change of plan, What will take place in the tenth stage of the Vuelta, which begins in Elche and ends in Alicante, will not be seen in that time trial. (30 August). It was to be his introduction letter to the land where he grew up.

Before the Ayuso-Pesquera family settled in Xàbia, little Juan was born in Barcelona and had traveled through Atlanta and Madrid (he came to train with Canillas at Real Madrid’s Ciudad Deportiva Valdebebas). His family chose the coast of Alicante for educational reasons (bilingual school) and the lifestyle of the area. Then he chose to ride the bike and the rest of the story is slowly being written. Currently, Ayuso has removed the “rookie” tag despite her youth. The next step will be to achieve his first victory among the pros. It won’t take long to arrive.