After dominating Giro d’Italia with Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates have confirmed that Juan Ayuso will target overall victory at the Criterium du Dauphiné which begins on Sunday.
The 21-year-old will then join forces with Pogacar at the Tour de France, in a supporting and understudy role.
Also in the UAE Team Emirates for the Dauphiné are 21-year-old Igor Arrieta and Kiwi Michael Vink, 32, both making their debut in the race. Nils Politt, Pavel Sivakov, Marc Soler and Tim Wellens will also race in France as a last stepping stone for the Tour de France.
Ayuso won the Itzulia Basque Country after Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič crashed out and then finished fifth overall in the Tour de Romandie.
“Since Romandie I took a little bit of a break and after I have just been building up slowly again,” Ayuso said as he headed to France.
“We’ve been training really well as a group at altitude the past weeks and the atmosphere is good with lots of guys going well so we’re aiming to be up at the sharp end of the racing. The Dauphine now will be a good tester before the Tour de France.”
Adam Yates is absent from the UAE Team Emirates squad for the Dauphiné despite finishing second overall in the 2023 edition of the eight-day French stage race behind Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike).
Pogačar is currently resting up after his Giro d’Italia victory before heading to an altitude camp in the French Alps, where he will be joined many of his teammates down to take part in the Dauphine after the race ends on Sunday June 9.
