Ayuso catches Ciccone off guard with Wahoo prank before European Championships

Shortly before the start, the Spaniard decided to play a prank on Lidl Trek teammate Giulio Ciccone by locking the Italian out of his Wahoo bike computer.

Ciccone only discovered the problem when he was preparing for the race.

“He put a code on the Wahoo, the code you need to access it,” Ciccone explained to CyclingProNet. “So now I don't know how I can use it.”

Ayuso was considerably more amused by the situation.

“I blocked his Wahoo,” he said with a laugh to CyclingProNet. “I put a code on it so he cannot access it. During the neutralisation he has to come to me and convince me to give him the code.”

When Ayuso was jokingly asked whether he planned to do the same to other rivals, including Mads Pedersen, he did not immediately rule it out.

“I haven't seen his bike, but maybe I will try.”

It was a lighthearted start to a day on which both Ayuso and Ciccone had serious ambitions.

Ayuso arrived at the start believing he could challenge for the European title.

After spending the previous weeks dealing with travel and jet lag, the Spaniard felt he had recovered sufficiently to play a role in the finale.

“I think I'm ready for today,” he said. “I hope I can put in a good performance and that we can go for the win.”

Ayuso expected the repeated climbs to take their toll as the race wore on.

“After five times, you are going to feel it in the legs,” he predicted. “Hopefully on the final time I can make the difference.”

Instead, Ayuso was among the riders who began to struggle.

He slipped towards the back of the race on the local circuit and was unable to stay with the strongest riders. His challenge ended long before the medals were decided, and the Spaniard eventually abandoned the race.

Ciccone’s afternoon developed very differently.

Having started the race wondering how he was going to access his Wahoo, the Italian soon had rather more important matters to deal with. He emerged as one of the strongest riders in the race and eventually found himself in a two man battle for the European title with Remco Evenepoel.

The pair went all the way to the line, where the result was too close to call at first glance.

Ciccone briefly believed he might have done enough, but the photo finish eventually confirmed that Evenepoel had taken the title by the narrowest of margins.

“I saw the first one and it was not really clear, and then I saw the second one and it was clear,” Ciccone said afterwards. “I feel really, really disappointed, but first I want to say congrats to Remco.”

The defeat was made more painful by Ciccone’s run of near misses throughout the season. The European Championships brought yet another podium finish, but still no victory in 2026.

“I think it’s one of the hardest years of my career,” he said. “I don’t know how many times I finished second or on the podium, eight or nine.”

By then, the pre-race Wahoo prank had become little more than a footnote.

Ayuso’s day had ended early. Ciccone’s ended with him studying a photo finish that showed just how close he had come to becoming European champion.