Sepp Kuss‘ hold on the red leader’s jersey at the Vuelta a España weakened notably on Tuesday as his teammate Jonas Vingegaard soared away for a lone stage victory, but the American remained adamant that he can still win the Vuelta
When Vingegaard blazed out of the pack with four kilometres to go on the short but viciously steep ascent of Bejes, Kuss stayed behind the small pack of GC contenders.
The American then shadowed his rivals when teammate Primož Roglič attempted, unsuccessfully, to go clear in his turn. Kuss was subsequently slightly gapped by Jumbo-Visma‘s rivals close to the summit when they dashed for the line, finishing tenth on the stage at 1:05 down, in addition to conceding 10 bonus seconds.
Kuss remains in the red jersey of race leader, though with a much-reduced advantage of 29 seconds on Vingegaard. The Dane has put on two devastating displays of climbing strength – first on the Col du Tourmalet last Friday and again on Bejes on Tuesday – and is now running second overall, ahead of Roglič.
Vingegaard thus looks increasingly like the strongest rider of Jumbo-Visma’s trio of leaders as the Vuelta’s third week gets underway. But post-stage, Kuss was both content that his squad, with Vingegaard, had managed to take the win for their hospitalised teammate Nathan Van Hooydonck, while also remaining adamant that he was still up for overall victory in Madrid.
“We’ll see what happens, but there’s still a margin and I’d still like to win,” Kuss said afterwards. “This finish was too explosive for me, but I still have good feelings. I don’t want to win the Vuelta as a present, for me that’s not sport. They [Roglič and Vingegaard] know what I’ve done and they’re also winners.”
“Tomorrow [on the Angliru – Ed.] I will try to do it well and it’s a climb I like a lot. I’m still in the lead and that satisfies me a lot.”
Kuss explained that the news this morning that Van Hooydonck and his wife had been involved in a car accident, with the Belgian rider reportedly in a life-threatening condition, had cast a major shadow over the team. But at the same time, he said, they had to continue fighting for the Vuelta.
“We got the message before the start about Nathan. It’s always a big blow when a friend and teammate is in this situation. It’s also a bit odd because we’ve still got to concentrate on the race but at the same time you’re thinking about your friend.
“We tried to concentrate and I hope there will be some more good news soon,” he added, speaking…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…