Juan Ayuso's Giro d'Italia ambitions are clear: the young Spaniard wants nothing less than a top three finish, and possibly more, as he leads UAE Team Emirates-XRG in the Corsa Rosa.
Ayuso's teammate Tadej Pogačar was able to conquer the Giro at his first attempt last year, and in a lengthy interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, 22-year-old Ayuso said that anything less than a podium finish would "be a step backwards."
Ayuso also cited his compatriot Alberto Contador, Spain's last winner of a Grand Tour back in the 2015 Giro, as one of his idols, saying that El Pistolero was an example to follow.
Ayuso was beaten by Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) at the Volta a Catalunya and the two are expected to go head to head at the Giro d'Italia in the biggest GC battle of the 2025 race.
Ayuso narrowly beat the Slovenian at the vital La Molina summit finish at the Volta a Catalunya but Roglič wrested the lead back thanks to a devastating last-stage attack at Montjuic in Barcelona.
However Ayuso's earlier season victories at the Trofeo Laigueglia and Tirreno-Adriatico suggested the 22-year-old is making rapidly upwards progress in cycling's hierarchy. After finishing third in the 2022 Vuelta, the youngest ever top-three finisher in his home Grand Tour, Ayuso is ready to hone in on the Giro.
"Racing the Giro was an idea I already had last year, but my team decided I should do the Tour and there wasn't much to discuss about that," Ayuso told Gazzetta dello Sport.
"Now that I've done the Tour and the Vuelta twice, the Giro was an even bigger goal for me. I wanted to do it, and even before I knew the exact 2025 route, I had this in mind."
Ayuso explained that winning the Giro Next Gen back in 2021 as well as living in Italy for six months and riding with the Colpack Continental team for half a season that year had been formative steps in his career. That was all the more reason, too, then to go for the professional version of the same event in 2025.
Asked directly if he would consider it a failure if he didn't win - as Pogačar did on his first attempt, Ayuso was categoric.
"No," he said. "But at the same time, I'm not saying that I would be happy with a podium, either. It would be a disappointment not to finish in the top three, because I would consider that a step backwards."
Regarding the 2025 Giro route, he recognised that the race was heavily backloaded, but warned that despite the ultra-tough third week, the hilly start also made for a complicated opening leg.
"It's a beautiful route and one that suits me," Ayuso said.
"I'm also convinced that I've got the strongest teammates," - amongst them Adam Yates, whose role in the UAE GC gameplan has yet to be fully clarified, after it was initially planned this January he would be going for the overall, alongside his young teammate.
Ayuso is under contract with UAE until the end of 2028. He has apparently clashed with Pogačar and the Slovenian's personal objectives in the past but denied that riding in the same team as Pogačar, who is under contract until 2030 with UAE, could limit his chances in the future.
"Up until now, in the team I have always had only good opportunities and freedom, except at the 2024 Tour when we were all for Tadej," Ayuso explained.
"It's been the same thing in the months leading up to the Giro. He is not a rival, but a role model. I consider him the Messi of cycling. At the last Tour I couldn't help him, but we talked about it and we ironed everything out."
However, regarding his idols as a young rider, Ayuso pointed to Alberto Contador, whose hardfought 2015 Giro victory marked, he said, a milestone in his own development as a racer.
"I started to get really serious with cycling myself in 2015, when Alberto beat Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa. I have vivid memories of how he raced up the Mortirolo. I was also rooting for Alberto more than for Landa, but I also think that Landa" - leading the Giro for Soudal-QuickStep in 2025 and who recently renewed contract with the team until the end 2026 - "will be a key name in the Giro this year, too."
Landa will start his eighth Giro and 22nd Grand Tour on Friday, Ayuso is starting his first Giro and only his fourth Grand Tour but seems destined for greatness.
He expects nothing less.
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