What does Juan Ayuso's recruitment of Giovanni Lombardi mean for the rider's future? 🇪🇸
Spaniard and his entourage entrust Italian agent as speculation mounts over the rider's contract situation
Earlier this week, HLN reported that Juan Ayuso had recruited the talents of rider agent Giovanni Lombardi in order to help facilitate a possible move away from UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the end of the season.
Ayuso is one of the few high-profile riders who hadn’t previously recruited a rider agent, Remco Evenepoel being another, and instead entrusted his father to manage his contract situation. Bringing in Lombardi is obviously a major shift from Ayuso and his camp, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that a deal taking him away from UAE is 100 per cent imminent. It’s certainly more likely than before, but the situation is more complicated than that.
What we do know is that Lombardi, who runs the LAM Sports agency, and the Ayuso family have been in discussions for several months about building a relationship. Lombardi is one of the most respected rider agents in the sport, and while he doesn’t have as many clients as some of the larger agencies, he still maintains a high-quality roster of athletes that includes Filippo Ganna, Enric Mas, and, formerly, Peter Sagan. LAM Sports works with quality over quantity, and Lombardi, a former lead-out rider for Mario Cipollini, is at virtually every race and training camp during the season. He’s often seen walking along the team buses at the starts of races and catching up with riders and team staff.
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In addition to the fact that he has been in talks with the Ayuso camp for several months, we also know that there’s no formal contract in place between the parties, and Lombardi has been providing his services and advice for some time. A more formal agreement could be established at a later date.
So why have the Ayusos turned to the Italian agent, and why now? The clear answer is that they need him. Juan Ayuso’s father is not a professional rider agent, and over the past 12 months, he has been inundated with requests and calls from World Tour teams asking about his son's availability. Virtually every team in the WorldTour, including Ineos Grenadiers, Astana and Movistar, has come knocking and questioned Ayuso’s contract at UAE Team Emirates.