Juan Ayuso, the youngest rider in the Vuelta a España, returned to the top five overall at the age of 19 with an impressive ride in Sunday's summit finish at Les Praires.

Ayuso, of UAE Team Emirates, finished sixth, 34 seconds behind Vuelta leader Remco Evenpole (Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl), on the ultra-steep 4km Les Prailes.

Ayuso ended the first week of the Vuelta in fifth place overall, a good enough performance for a GC contender, but even more notable for a first-time Grand Tour competitor, who also said he had a very difficult start in the Vuelta.

The young Spaniard stated that he is riding without any pressure from his team and that Joan Almeida, currently in seventh place, is the UAE GC leader.

"I came to the Vuelta well prepared, but I had a tough week beforehand. [Today [Sunday] I was in better shape than yesterday and I discussed it with the sport director, Joxen Fernandez (Matxin). Because you have to be careful on a steep climb like that."

Ayuso said later that he only knew Les Preles from what he had seen on the computer, but he could hardly be faulted for his handling of the climb.

"The early descent down the slope did not go well, but after that he steadily increased his pace, first catching Enric Mas (Movistar) and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), and then pulling away from the other two Spaniards near the finish.

"We worked hard in the beginning, but Lemko was way ahead of us now. So I ended up going with Carlos for most of the climb and then we went for it with about 800 meters to go."

." The last part of the climb seemed like it would never end, and by the finish I was so tired I couldn't stand up straight."

But if Ayuso's current performance is winning him a lot of praise, he also revealed that before his strong performance in the mountains early in the Vuelta, it was arguably where he had to dig deepest so far to stay in contention.

Indeed, his most difficult climb to date was the third section of La Herrera on stage 4.

"I don't know if it was the heat of stage 4, the rest day, the move from Holland, or the bad start, but it was a really tough day when the race came back here.

"So on the climb, I kept pushing, telling myself I was going to make it through one more kilometer. But it was harder to believe that I could make it through the climb that day than in any race since."

"I was really happy that I could make it through the climb.

At the same time, however, he claimed that the welcome he received from Spanish fans on the road made it much easier to handle the difficult days. Furthermore, with Almeida as GC leader of UAE Team Emirates, all he needed was to do the Vuelta one day at a time and see the results.

"The leader is still João and there is no pressure. If he explodes tomorrow, next week, or even on the last day, what he has done up to that point is a bonus."

"So I had a lot of fun today and everyone was shouting my name, which always gives me an extra boost. When you're struggling, this kind of support is huge."