'The team totally deserved the stage win' - Ayuso delivers icing on the cake with Volta ao Algarve stage win

After coming close to victory on stage 2, marginally behind Seixas, this stage win was the icing on the cake for what has been an excellent week’s work for Ayuso and his Lidl-Trek teammates. 

“Yeah I mean the team totally deserved the stage win already on Foia. It hurt to lose by so little, and I’m really glad that today I could give back to the whole work of the team that they did all day with a stage win,” a content Ayuso told reporters including Domestique at the finish.

For Ayuso, it was important to give back to his teammates, after the work they put in for him across the final week. For example following the first ascent of the Alto do Malhão on the final stage, Ayuso found himself briefly isolated when the GC group narrowed in size. 

However, Héctor Álvarez, Lennard Kämna, and Carlos Verona quickly managed to swarm around the yellow jersey following the first ascent, and maintained control of the GC group, as well as the dangerous duo of Kévin Vauquelin (Ineos Grenadiers) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) who had attacked. 

“My teammates controlled it perfectly, and also in the final, it was a very tense race, quite nervous because they tried to isolate me the first time up Malhão and then again, the team responded perfectly again: then Lenny [Kämna], Carlos [Verona] and Héctor [Álvarez] did a great job,” said Ayuso. 

“They came back, they pulled a crazy amount, and they controlled the race perfectly. They led me into the final in the perfect position for the win.”

Ultimately, Ayuso’s strong ride on the Alto da Fóia on stage 2 and the individual time trial on stage 3 meant that he had reduced the number of contenders within touching distance of him to just one, Paul Seixas. He knew he needed to mark the French teenager at all times, and perfectly executed that plan.

“Yeah, from the start to the end, it was a very stressful and tense day, already from the beginning, as you say, in the sprint, my job was basically to cover Paul [Seixas]. If Paul wants to go for the sprint, then I also have to respond. He tried to take some seconds and I also had to respond," said Ayuso.

In the end, it’s a perfect start to life at Lidl-Trek for the Spanish rider with a stage win and the GC. All the early signs ahead of the main target, the Tour de France, look good, though Ayuso is keeping his feet on the ground, highlighting the performance of his Lidl-Trek teammates rather than his own.

“The conclusion is more about how good the team rode, how well protected I was, not only today, but all week, and today they showed it again and we were the strongest team in the race,” said Ayuso. 

“I was always well protected and I think everybody saw how much pressure they put us under today and they still managed to control the race."

"I mean, not everything was under control because there were sometimes moments, but they still managed to come back from this and put me in a position to be able to win. So I’m really happy I could get this win for them.”

The 23-year-old is next pencilled in to make his debut at another race, Paris-Nice, after he won Tirreno-Adriatico in 2025.