Teammate defends Ayuso after Itzulia withdrawal - 'Don’t invent stories'

Ayuso abandoned the race midway through stage four, with his team confirming stomach problems as the reason for stepping off. The Spaniard had already been on the back foot, sitting 54th overall and more than 16 minutes down on race leader Paul Seixas. 

Speaking at the start that day, he admitted he had been struggling for several days, a situation compounded by his disrupted preparation after crashing out of Paris–Nice while in the overall lead.

Despite that context, discussion around his withdrawal quickly picked up, with comments suggesting that Ayuso didn’t want to work for others, prompting Bernard to respond on social media.

“I’m so tired of reading this kind of stuff,” the Frenchman wrote on X, reacting to comments questioning Ayuso’s decision to abandon. He made it clear that the situation inside the team was very different from how it was being portrayed from the outside.

“For two days they’ve been trying to help us as best they can,” Bernard explained, before pointing to a key moment during the race. “It was Mattias Skjelmose who took the radio today to tell him not to push his body and to think about the Ardennes.”

From within the team, it was seen as a decision to look ahead to the Ardennes rather than force things in the Basque Country.

Bernard summed it up with a pointed message aimed at critics: “Don’t invent stories where there are none.”

Ayuso has since travelled to Andorra according to Marca for further medical tests, with the focus now shifting to the Ardennes as he aims to return to racing in the coming weeks.