Ayuso and McNulty both take final podiums at Tirreno-Adriatico & Paris-Nice

• Ayuso 2nd in Italy, McNulty 3rd in France​

UAE Team Emirates finished off an eventful week of Word Tour racing with podiums in two of the biggest stage races on the calendar.

At Tirreno-Adriatico Juan Ayuso confirmed his 2nd place in the GC as the riders rolled in for the final stage at San Benedetto del Tronto (154km) which was won in a sprint by Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek).

The young Spaniard led the race from day one after a brilliant time trial win which saw the 21-year-old talent hold the blue leader’s jersey for the following days. It was not until stage 5 to Valle Castellana that Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma LAB) would put his stamp on the race and hold the lead until the end with Ayuso settling for 2nd place.

Young Mexican talent Isaac Del Toro would continue to show his promise, putting in excellent teamwork for Ayuso and finishing himself just of the podium in 4th spot.

Ayuso : “I think in general it was a very good week for us. We won a stage and then 2nd and 4th in the GC, twice 2nd place and the team classification also. None of us had any serious crashes either which was a blessing considering the weather. We can take a lot of confidence from the results this week and are motivated for the next races.”

Meanwhile at Paris-Nice there was heartbreak for Brandon McNulty as he gave up the yellow jersey on the leg snapping final stage which started and finished on a hilly circuit around Nice (109km).

The American was unable to follow an attack from stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quickstep) at -30km which saw him distanced by the Belgium and eventual race winner Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-LAB). McNulty would persevere in the chase behind to save 3rd place and cement his place on the podium.

McNulty: “It’s a bittersweet feeling- if you would have told me at the start of the week that I’d be on the podium I would have been super happy as I didn’t come into the race with the best feelings. In the end though when you have the leader’s jersey you want to keep it. I was just missing a little bit when they attacked, and I held it for a while but then the gap just grew and grew and that was it. Jorgenson is a good friend of mine so if there was anyone else that was to win from the other favourites, I’m glad it was him.”

UAE Team Emirates climbed the podium in both events to take home the overall team prizes.

Tirreno-Adriatico Final results

1.Jonas Vingegaard (Visma LAB) 26:22:23

2.Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +1’24”

3.Jai Hindley (Bora- Hansgrohe) +1’52”

4.Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) +2’20”

Paris-Nice final results

1.Matteo Jorgenson (Jumbo LAB) 27:50:23

2.Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quickstep) +30”

3.Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +1’47”