Friday, March 15, 2024 at 11:20 AM
Mikel Landa ensured that Sepp Kuss retained his red jersey in the 17th stage of the Vuelta a España 2023 when teammates Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard rode away from him. This is evident from the new documentary series All In about the past season of Jumbo-Visma.
What was that again? In the sixth stage of the Tour of Spain, Kuss managed to win the stage from the breakaway and ride three minutes away from the classification men. In the individual time trial, the superman surprised again by losing little time to the other favorites for the classification. Suddenly the final victory turned out to be a real scenario for the cheerful rider. In the last week of the Grand Tour, the virtual podium turned yellow-black. Teammates Vingegaard and Roglic seemed to be the American’s only remaining competitors.
Sepp Kuss wins the sixth stage in the 2023 Tour of Spain – photo: Cor Vos
Cycling enthusiasts and media from all over the world criticized the Dutch formation when the Danish Tour winner and Slovenian Giro winner attacked their teammate – and above all, loyal master – in several stages. Although Kuss lost time to his teammates, he retained the red jersey. During the ride to the Altu de L’Angliru – on his own birthday, after all – the American climber was attacked again by Roglic. Vingegaard was in the wheel of the Olympic time trial champion. Cracking the classification leader seemed to mean the end of his red dream.
Help from an unexpected source!
Until Landa came alongside. The Spanish rider of Bahrain Victorious caught up with Kuss and said: “If you want to win the Vuelta you have to follow me,” the 29-year-old rider of Visma | Lease a Bike in the documentary series. In the last kilometers of the grueling final climb, Landa functioned as a master servant for the American. Kuss came in 19 seconds behind his teammates, to his surprise this was enough to retain the red jersey. “I thought I had lost the jersey. Landa will never have to pay for his own beer again!”
Kuss indicates earlier in the documentary that he is happy with the support he receives from the peloton. Many riders from other teams came to him to say that they would help him if his teammates attacked him again. The climber struggled with his lead in the general classification during the Vuelta. He agreed to the agreement that everyone would drive for themselves, but still had mixed feelings about this. Vingegaard and the team management also openly had difficulty with the every-man-for-himself plan. Grischa Niermann speaks in the five-part series about a ‘shitty situation’.
Roglic was clear, he wanted to win the Vuelta for the fourth time. The Slovenian winning type did not easily accept his third place on the podium. “It is a luxury problem for the team, but it worries me because I want to win the match,” he says in the documentary.
The former ski jumper clearly had difficulty sharing the leadership. It ultimately led to Roglic leaving his Jumbo-Visma after eight years. At BORA-hansgrohe, the classification rider is trying to put the crown on his career this year by winning the Tour de France.
The always smiling Roglic was not satisfied with the situation during the Vuelta – photo: Cor Vos
In the second season of All In shows how Jumbo-Visma struggles with the luxury problem during the Tour of Spain. But we also see doubt and setbacks within the team during the two other major tours. The five-part documentary can be viewed on Amazon Prime Video from Saturday, March 16.
2024-03-15 10:20:00
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