Ayuso at the head of events in first Romandie mountain test

Juan Ayuso put in a strong climbing display to take the 5th spot on stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie today in Switzerland. The first big mountain day of the race from Fribourg to Salvan/Les Marécottes (171km) saw UAE save their energies until the final ascent where Ayuso and reigning race champion from 2023 Adam Yates were in the GC battle behind as the early race break battled for the stage honours.

The day was won by Thibaut Nys (Lidl-Trek) who was one of the few remainers from the days early breakaway. The race continues tomorrow with a time trial with start/finish in Oron (15.5km). Nys leads the race overall with Ayuso close behind at 27” in the GC.

Ayuso : ” I’m feeling better every day here, yesterday I suffered quite a lot on the stage. It’s good that even through the suffering I’m still up in the mix. Tomorrow is an important today and hopefully I can take back some time before Saturday. The race is still very open and me and Yates are still in a goo position so we’ll fight until the end.”

Results stage 2

1.Thibaut Nys (Lidl-Trek) 4:02:44

2.Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R) s.t

3.Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) +4”

5.Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +16”

GC Results

1.Thibaut Nys (Lidl-Trek) 7:55:32

2.Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R) +4”

3.Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) +22”

7.Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +27”