You’ve probably by now seen Juan Ayuso’s comments about his impending departure from UAE Team Emirates-XRG. ‘Bombazo!’ screamed one Spanish headline. You don’t need to speak Ayuso’s mother tongue to figure out that translation. Ayuso went in hard, dug a little deeper and then continued digging.

There are a lot of lessons that ought be taken from Ayuso’s incredible interview. Ayuso signed a six-year contract in 2022 to theoretically take him to the end of 2028. Other youngsters with promising futures have also penned long deals with the Emirati team: Isaac Del Toro (2029), Jan Christen (2030), Pablo Torres (2030), and new signing Adrià Pericas, also until 2030. In the absence of a properly structured transfer or trading system, like employed in most other sports, there’s a very convincing argument that such long contracts should be outlawed, because once a rider agrees to stay in one place for that amount of time, they cannot easily get out of it. Yes, it’s possible – Remco Evenepoel is the latest big name to do so this year – but it’s often beset by an innumerable amount of complications.

This article was published by Rouleur in August 2025. You can read the full article here.