Tom Danielson, a former American cyclist well-informed about the UAE, has shared an article explaining how the war between Juan Ayuso and the UAE developed. The former American professional cycling star explains that the Spanish cyclist’s attitude was revenge after being punished by participating in the Vuelta a España:

“The situation between Ayuso and the UAE is basically a case where the guy doesn’t fit in with the team because he doesn’t want to give up his aspirations of helping the riders who are winning. The team keeps giving him opportunities, and he keeps riding only for himself. The team gets angry, and he gets angry. He looks for a new team and asks to terminate his contract.

 The team says yes, but we’ll “punish” him by having to go to the Vuelta and race with his internal nemesis, Almedia (who races better than him). The guy gets angry and returns the “punishment” by purposefully sitting out when necessary and then showing he could help by winning a stage where he could help. 

In the UAE, they wanted Ayuso to continue developing, focusing on smaller races for him and working hard for Tadej in the bigger ones, like the Tour.

I don’t think Ayuso needs to develop further; he’s ready to fight for victory in the biggest races, and he wants a chance to do so without the best cyclist in the world being angry with him.

In the UAE, they tried to quietly give him the chance to race on his own, but Tadej got angry, and then Almeida got angry too, and Del Toro got really angry too…

“UAE wanted to expose what Ayuso is like”

I have information that the Vuelta was a kind of “punishment.” I think after the Giro, there was some kind of explosion within the team. He probably looked for options, found a team, and then asked to terminate his contract. They agreed, and he probably stopped training. Perhaps at that point, Pogacar was still thinking about participating in the Vuelta, so mentally, Ayuso was finished for the season. Pogi officially abandoned the Vuelta, and it’s possible the team decided to send Ayuso there to achieve exactly what’s happening: to expose what he’s like.

Pairing him with Almeida, although not at his best, means his only real option would be to help. He refused to help and then left a clear signal to the world with the stage win. So mission accomplished: reveal everything from the team and then they announced his departure. All in order.

He may not be a “horrible, selfish guy” outside of cycling or even outside of the UAE, but he’s definitely not “doing the job” the team and team leaders pay him to do.

What will happen in the remainder of the return? Well, I think Ayuso will stay. They’re just explaining the “situation” to the public, as right now it seems a bit ridiculous.