Every GC project needs a rider like Verona: the selfless Spaniard who has spent a decade and a half pacing leaders up mountains for Quick-Step, Orica and Movistar, and who now plays guardian angel and mentor to compatriot Juan Ayuso. When freed, he can still win big — see his breakaway masterpieces at the 2022 Dauphiné and the 2025 Giro. In the high Pyrenees and Alps, he'll be the last friendly wheel Ayuso sees.
Palmarès
- Critérium du Dauphiné stage 7 winner (2022)
- Giro d'Italia stage 15 winner (2025)
- Vuelta a España stage combativity award (2015)
- Fifteen seasons as a top-level domestique: Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, Orica, Movistar, Lidl-Trek (since 2024)
Cut-out factHe waited nearly a decade for his first pro win — then took it at the 2022 Dauphiné by beating a group containing race leader Primož Roglič, and added a Giro stage at 32.
The squad
Riding the 2026 Tour with Juan Ayuso, Derek Gee-West, Mads Pedersen, Quinn Simmons, Mattias Skjelmose, Toms Skujiņš, Mathias Vacek — see the full Lidl-Trek team page.
Portrait: AI paper-collage render (gpt-image-2) after a reference photograph — source: Wikimedia Commons, author: PB84, license: CC BY-SA 4.0.
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