Left alone: Sepp Kuss (red jersey, M.) had to race against his own colleagues at times (Madrid, September 17, 2023)
When the American cyclist Sepp Kuss rolled up to the start of the final stage of the 78th Vuelta Ciclista a España at the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela in Madrid on Sunday, he did so in the certainty that he would be honored that evening for a very special triumph. The fact that he was able to take home the Maillot Rojo, the red jersey of the overall leader, was not only thanks to his outstanding sporting achievements on the racing bike.
After just two thirds of the tour of Spain, Kuss’ team Jumbo-Visma was dominating the action at will, taking the first three places in the overall ranking. And maintained this result until the end. In the final tally, Kuss was followed by his colleagues Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič. However, this truly historic team success was not achieved entirely smoothly. Because at the beginning of the last week of racing last Tuesday, Jumbo-Visma broke an unwritten rule in cycling: If the overall leader of a competition rides in his own team, his position must be protected and attacks on him are automatically prohibited. The superstars Roglič and Vingegaard it didn’t matter. Sepp Kuss constantly had to defend himself from attacks from his teammates and had significant problems on the final climb. Jonas Vingegaard then won, moving up to 29 seconds into the lead, and now one of the most difficult climbs in the international cycling calendar awaited, the 124.5 kilometer long 17th stage to the dreaded Altu de l’Angliru on Wednesday.
Jumbo-Visma inexplicably picked up where they left off. Roglič and Vingegaard flexed their muscles on the 12.3 kilometer long ramp, which was 10.3 percent steep on average and had a gradient of up to a brutal 24 percent at the top. A good 2,000 meters from the finish, Sepp Kuss was obviously no longer able to keep up with the constant attacks, radioed to the team management who was following behind in the support car and expected the usual passing on of information to his teammates pedaling directly in front of him, combined with the hope that the pace he had slowed down would be reduced. Only the opposite happened, Roglič and Vingegaard even increased the pace and left the American standing in the thickening fog on the mountaintop just on his 29th birthday. An almost unbearable picture of a lack of team spirit.
But Kuss fought, all sympathies went to him. He caught himself again, crossed the finish line in third place and was just able to defend his red jersey with a measly eight seconds lead. At the finish he put a good face on the bad game. But then the general public was outraged by the Dutch team. Why such disrespect within the team towards the overall leader? Why do the two Jumbo Visma captains, who selflessly supported Sepp Kuss as a loyal helper during their respective overall victories at the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France this year, stab their teammate in the back like this? On the same day, Jumbo’s sporting director Grischa Niermann spoke out in favor of Kuss. This meant that the overall ranking of the Vuelta had already been decided in the team bus last Wednesday. Because, already four minutes behind, fourth-placed Spaniard Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates) didn’t have the slightest chance of being able to decisively intervene in the fight for the podium.
The unavoidable Remco Evenepoel then climbed onto the vacated stage again. Already during the Angliru stage he launched a major attack and secured important points in the battle for the Maillot Montaña for the best mountain rider. The young Belgian continued his offensive driving style undeterred – since his chances of victory evaporated with a remarkable collapse on Friday of the second week of the race, he drove as if liberated. Evenepoel crowned his performance on the third mountain finish in a row after a magnificent tour de force over 29 kilometers with his third stage win and the early win of the mountain jersey. His “everything can, nothing has to” mentality sustainably revitalized the race in the shadow of the frightening Jumbo dominance and will also make the last Grand Tour of 2023 memorable from a sporting perspective.
