Juan Ayuso skips Vuelta a España as Monument debut awaits

Juan Ayuso will not line up at the Vuelta a España this month, according to AS. Instead, the Spaniard will turn his attention to the one-day races, sticking to the programme that was drawn up before the start of the season. 

The Vuelta has always carried particular significance for Ayuso, who was just 19 when he finished third on his Grand Tour debut there in 2022. A year later he returned to finish fourth, behind the Jumbo-Visma trio of Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič.

Ayuso was absent in 2024 before returning a year later for what became his final Grand Tour with UAE Team Emirates-XRG. During the Vuelta, the team confirmed that Ayuso would leave three years before the end of his contract, bringing a strained relationship to a public close.

Ayuso openly questioned the timing and wording of the announcement, underlining the tensions that had developed around his role within the team. On the road, however, he still signed off with two stage wins before joining Lidl-Trek on a deal through 2030.

A return to the Vuelta was never part of Ayuso’s original 2026 programme. From the start of his first season with Lidl-Trek, the Tour de France was the clear Grand Tour priority, with the team viewing his contract through 2030 as a long term investment.

Ayuso's season started almost perfectly at the Volta ao Algarve in February, where he won both the final stage and the overall classification.

The momentum did not last. At Paris-Nice, Lidl-Trek’s strong team time trial put Ayuso into the yellow jersey, but he crashed heavily the following day and was forced to abandon. His return at Itzulia Basque Country was then cut short by illness, leaving him with a fragmented spring and little consistent racing before the Tour.

He only returned to competition in June at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where third overall suggested his form was moving in the right direction again.

For much of the first two weeks in France, Ayuso still looked capable of fighting for the podium. He remained close to the top three through the opening mountain stages and was just seconds away from a podium position around the middle of the race.

The final week changed the picture. Ayuso began to lose time in the high mountains and also struggled in the individual time trial. As the race wore on, teammate Mattias Skjelmose moved ahead of him in the general classification. Ayuso eventually reached Paris in seventh place, with Skjelmose sixth.

“This Tour is part of the process,” Ayuso said afterwards. “I have fought while feeling bad and fatigued. It will make me stronger when I can have the legs I want at the Tour in the future. If everything comes together, we can aim for big things.”

Instead of the Vuelta, Ayuso will return to racing in September at the Canadian WorldTour events in Québec and Montréal before staying in Canada for the World Championships. The European Championships in Slovenia and Il Lombardia will round out his season, with the latter remarkably set to be his Monument debut.

Lidl-Trek, meanwhile, are expected to head to the Vuelta with Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose as their main reference points. Skjelmose will target the general classification, while Pedersen will hunt stage wins, which would naturally put him in contention for the points classification as well.