Ayuso in great difficulty in the time trial

After the difficult climb to the Plateau de Solaison , where only the help of teammate Quinn Simmons prevented him from losing more than two minutes to stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the Spanish rider was again outclassed by the Belgian just 48 hours later.

In the individual time trial of stage 16 , Ayuso looked unrecognisable from the rider who had previously beaten specialists such as Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and even Evenepoel himself, albeit way back in 2023. At the finish, the gap to the reigning world time trial champion was 2 minutes and 22 seconds , with Ayuso finishing in 15th place after losing ground at every intermediate checkpoint.

Upon arrival, the Spaniard quickly slipped through the lines of waiting journalists to reach the team van, where a curtain and tape marked off a recovery area shared with teammate Skjelmose —who had performed excellently, finishing third. The contrast between the two, sitting just a few meters apart on their warm-up bikes, was merciless. Skjelmose, despite having his head partially covered by a towel to combat the heat, was in excellent spirits and happily chatted with reporters. Ayuso, while fulfilling his media duties, answered questions for less than a minute.

"It obviously went badly, very badly. I haven't seen the gaps yet, but I think they're big," Ayuso told the journalists present.

"You can't afford to make mistakes when you're aiming for the podium, and I made two mistakes. It's tough," the Spaniard added. "I wasn't feeling well, I was far from my level, but that happens sometimes."

Ayuso's only consolation is a gain in the overall standings, rising to fifth place following the withdrawal of Florian Lipowitz, who crashed during the time trial. However, the podium now seems a distant dream: third-place finisher Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) already holds a 2:31 lead over Ayuso, who has conceded a whopping nine minutes overall to race leader Tadej Pogačar.

But Ayuso hasn't thrown in the towel. The Tour isn't over yet, and the double ascent of Alpe d'Huez still awaits the riders: a potentially historic opportunity to reshuffle the deck. And as Ayuso himself noted, nothing can be taken for granted in cycling, as the events of Jonas Vingegaard and Lipowitz himself have demonstrated.