Sawt Falasteen - Ayuso happy to fly under radar at Tour de France

Most attention at the Tour will be on champion Tadej Pogacar, his main rival Jonas Vingegaard, and French teenage prodigy Paul Seixas, as well as Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel.

Only four years ago Ayuso was himself a teenage sensation, finishing third at the 2022 Vuelta a Espana, matching Pogacar's Grand Tour debut in Spain as a 20-year-old in 2019.

Since then, Ayuso's star has not shone as brightly as many expected it to.

His results have been inconsistent -- which is hardly surprising for a young rider.

Still only 23, he has won prestigious week-long stage races such as the Tour of the Basque Country in 2024 and Tirreno-Adriatico last year.

But after backing up his Vuelta debut with a fourth-placed finish the following year in Spain, he has failed to deliver in Grand Tours.

The Lidl-Trek team leader was notable by his absence during the press conference for Tour favourites held by organisers on Thursday.

"I do like that they have more exposure, more pressure than me, and then I can do a bit more of my own thing," Ayuso told reporters on Friday.

"But I don't really think about it. I just try to focus on myself."

He will be riding the Tour for the second time, having been forced out early in 2024 after testing positive for Covid.

He started this season in fine form, edging Seixas to win the Tour of the Asturias, but illness and injury hampered him until he bounced back last month with a third-placed finish at the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes.

With Pogacar and Vingegaard expected to continue hogging the top two steps of the Tour podium -- as they have done for the last five years -- Ayuso hopes to battle the likes of Seixas, Evenepoel, Isaac Del Toro and Florian Lipowitz for a top three finish.

Ayuso is expecting Seixas to light up the race.

"I think he's a true racer. He's not scared to go on to attack," Ayuso said of the French 19-year-old.

"I don't think he's going to wait and see; if he has legs, he's going to try it, and we have to be there."

E.Qaddoumi--SF-PST