Jumbo-Visma merciless at Vuelta
Vingegaard and Roglic leave the birthday boy kiss
September 13, 2023, 6:15 p.m
The Dutch team Jumbo-Visma claims overall victory at the Vuelta. On the 17th stage of the Tour of Spain, Primoz Roglic wins ahead of Jonas Vingegaard, who is getting closer and closer to the leader Sepp Kuss. The actual noble helper defends a wafer-thin lead.
Sepp Kuss surprisingly defended his overall lead in the Vuelta on his 29th birthday. On the brutal stage up to Alto de L’Angliru, the American professional cyclist came in third and lost some ground to Jonas Vingegaard (both Jumbo-Visma), but saved a mini lead of eight seconds over the two-time Tour winner in the thick fog from Denmark. The Slovenian Primoz Roglic won the 17th stage of the Tour of Spain.
Kuss, actually intended to be Vingegaard’s noble helper, can dream more than ever of overall victory. “I came here with no expectations and, as always, just wanted to help the boys. Then I came into this beautiful jersey and discovered a new level of self-confidence,” said the climbing specialist, who took the overall lead on the tenth stage.
But the result has a bitter aftertaste: Kuss, who played a large part in Roglic’s victory at the Giro in the spring and Vingegaard’s triumph at the Tour de France in the summer, was once again unable to rely on the mercy of the two superstars from his own team. For a long time both of them even lined up behind him in the race. On the last steep climb everything seemed ready for a birthday victory. The trio Kuss, Roglic and Vingegaard had broken away from the field.
But the superstars in Team Jumbo-Visma were not in the mood for gifts or a gesture of thanks for the racing year so far. In fact, Roglic and Vingegaard practically left the American standing two kilometers from the finish and took him second by second in the overall standings. In an interview on Eurosport, Vingegaard later let it be known that the kiss would wish for the Vuelta triumph. Roglic made similar comments. “Both of them are driving with a knife between their teeth and want to take every second away from him, and then they say that he should win. That’s interesting,” said ex-professional and Eurosport expert Jens Voigt. The Dane Vingegaard had already attacked his teammate and thus the red jersey during his stage victory the day before.
Showdown at the last mountain finish?
Curious: Already on the 13th section, Jumbo-Visma had the podium all to himself thanks to Vingegaard, Kuss and Roglic. The last time there was a triple victory in a Grand Tour stage was at the Vuelta in 1991 by the Dutch team PDM. Fourth overall Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) is already four minutes behind and will hardly be able to intervene in the fight.
Should Kuss actually be at the top in Madrid on Sunday, Jumbo-Visma would have won the three major tours of the year with three different riders after the Giro (Roglic) and the Tour (Vingegaard) – it would be a first in cycling.
Former world champion and last year’s winner Remco Evenepoel went into the final and tough climb in the “Especial” (honor category) category as a soloist with a lead of more than a minute, but was quickly cashed in. The classification drivers then watched each other. Kuss had to let Vingegaard and Roglic, who was third overall, pull away shortly before the finish, but he struggled over the line 19 seconds after the duo and was kept red.
The decision about overall victory is likely to be made on Thursday at the final mountain finish of this year’s Vuelta. It starts in Pola de Allande, the finish awaits after 178.9 kilometers at Puerto de la Cruz de Linares. There are three mountain classifications in the first category on the program; the winner of the day is decided by an eight-kilometer-long final climb with an average gradient of 8.6 percent.