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Primož Roglič and Sepp Kuss survived stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia but were left blooded and in pain after being involved in two separate incidents on the road to Tortona.
Roglič perhaps used up yet another of his nine lives when he crashed with Geraint Thomas, Tao Geoghegan Hart and others with 69km to race. The Londoner’s Giro d’Italia ended cruelly while Thomas and Roglič were able to get up and raced on.
Kuss finished the stage with a finger bandaged and covered in blood after his hand went into his spokes as he took over his shoe covers.
The Slovenian was left with deep road rash on his left hip and a hole in his shorts but finished in the main peloton, which was given the same time as stage winner Pascal Ackermann after another crash inside the final three kilometres.
He remains second overall, just two seconds down on Thomas, with João Almeida third overall, 20 seconds down on Roglič.
“You can see, I still have some meat out, we take a shower and we’ll see,” he said briefly at the finish before riding to the Jumbo-Visma team bus.
“I’m still here, so it’s okay,” Roglič added, with a mix of pragmatism and perspective, considering Geoghegan Hart’s painful crash and injuries.
Kuss finished with Roglič. He avoided the crash but endured his own pain after his finger went into his spokes. His hand was covered in blood after some initial treatment from the race doctor but he was overly concerned.
“I was taking off my shoe covers and my hand went into the front wheel,” the American told Cyclingnews.
“I can change a battery on a rear derailleur but taking off my shoe covers got me…” he added, joking about how he had managed to change a battery on his bike at high speed during stage 3 but was not so lucky this time.
28-year-old Kuss is now a seasoned professional. He appears to understand that crashes, injuries and the daily stress of Grand Tour racing are part of the sport.
“There have been a lot of incidents, that’s unfortunate but that’s how it goes in pro cycling,” he said.
“Sometimes these ‘easier’ days are when you can lose the most just by bad luck. It’s important to do these days as best we can.”
Kuss was saddened to hear about Geoghegan Hart’s crash but tried to put any personal thoughts and emotions about the risk of racing to one side.
“Primoz crashed but compared to Tao, things can always be worse, we know that,” he said.
“It’s best not to think about it all too much because if you start…
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