Sepp Kuss had never considered it. Otherwise, he would not have got up on the third stage, dropping around ten seconds to the other favorites after having done his teamwork until the last 100 meters, during the first arrival at the summit. Otherwise, he would not have taken the time to clap the hands of the spectators before crossing the line as winner at Javalambre, losing precious seconds when a rider in the general race would have sprinted to the end. Otherwise, above all, he would not have drunk half a bottle of sparkling wine straight away to celebrate his victory, while his boss Richard Plugge abhors alcohol in competition. But the American is a bon vivant and too bad if he was “completely drunk after that”, he admitted a few days later, hilariously.
