Sepp Kuss: We shouldn't think of Vuelta a España as a competition between us

Sepp Kuss' hold on the red leader's jersey at the Vuelta a España weakened notably on Tuesday as his teammate Jonas Vingegaard soared away for a lone stage victory, but the American remained adamant that he can still win the Vuelta

When Vingegaard blazed out of the pack with four kilometres to go on the short but viciously steep ascent of Bejes, Kuss stayed behind the small pack of GC contenders.

The American then shadowed his rivals when teammate Primož Roglič attempted, unsuccessfully, to go clear in his turn. Kuss was subsequently slightly gapped by Jumbo-Visma's rivals close to the summit when they dashed for the line, finishing tenth on the stage at 1:05 down, in addition to conceding 10 bonus seconds.

Kuss remains in the red jersey of race leader, though with a much-reduced advantage of 29 seconds on Vingegaard. The Dane has put on two devastating displays of climbing strength – first on the Col du Tourmalet last Friday and again on Bejes on Tuesday – and is now running second overall, ahead of Roglič.

Vingegaard thus looks increasingly like the strongest rider of Jumbo-Visma's trio of leaders as the Vuelta's third week gets underway. But post-stage, Kuss was both content that his squad, with Vingegaard, had managed to take the win for their hospitalised teammate Nathan Van Hooydonck, while also remaining adamant that he was still up for overall victory in Madrid.

"We'll see what happens, but there's still a margin and I'd still like to win," Kuss said afterwards. "This finish was too explosive for me, but I still have good feelings. I don't want to win the Vuelta as a present, for me that's not sport. They [Roglič and Vingegaard] know what I've done and they're also winners."

"Tomorrow [on the Angliru – Ed.] I will try to do it well and it's a climb I like a lot. I'm still in the lead and that satisfies me a lot."

Kuss explained that the news this morning that Van Hooydonck and his wife had been involved in a car accident, with the Belgian rider reportedly in a life-threatening condition, had cast a major shadow over the team. But at the same time, he said, they had to continue fighting for the Vuelta.

"We got the message before the start about Nathan. It's always a big blow when a friend and teammate is in this situation. It's also a bit odd because we've still got to concentrate on the race but at the same time you're thinking about your friend.

"We tried to concentrate and I hope there will be some more good news soon," he added, speaking ahead of the statement issued by Jumbo-Visma giving the good news that Van Hooydonck's 'health situation is not critical'.

As for the finale, while Kuss explained he was vulnerable on punchy, fast stages like Bejes with an irregular, explosive uphill finish, the ever-versatile Vingegaard appeared to be in his element. As Kuss also pointed out, Vingegaard had read the race exceptionally well, launching his move just when the effects of the climb were beginning to tell the most on all the GC group.

"He attacked at a really good moment when we didn't have a lot of guys to ride because we'd been pulling the whole stage," Kuss explained. "So it was better to attack and put the others on the back foot and in a situation where they had to react.

"It was also better for me because this kind of finish is so explosive, it's quite hard for me."

Anticipating the Angliru

Kuss explained that his lack of objections to Vingegaard's attack is based on the belief that he and his teammates may all be fighting for the same goal of overall victory, but they are doing so in a way that does not prejudice the team's chances as a collective unit.

He also said that the collective strategy that whoever was leading the team was at liberty to go for victory had preceded his joining Roglič and Vingegaard as a protected GC rider for Jumbo-Visma in the Vuelta.

"From the beginning of the Vuelta, when it was just Jonas and Primoz [as co-leaders], they both had the freedom to try for the win," Kuss said. "Then when I came into the picture, that made it more complicated.

"But the important thing is that we don't chase each other down and that we do things in a cohesive way. I think we did that today.

"Tomorrow [Wednesday], the finish on the Angliru is less tactical, it just comes down to who has the legs. We shouldn't think of this as a competition between us. We just have to beat our rivals."

To judge by the almost complete lack of reaction from those rivals when Vingegaard made his move on Bejes, the sense that Jumbo-Visma will continue to make the running on the much harder ascent of the Altu de L'Angliru on Wednesday and in the second Asturian mountains stage on Thursday is currently hard to avoid.

There may yet be surprises, of course, and Jumbo-Visma will not have forgotten how Roglič's seemingly unstoppable run towards overall victory in the 2019 Vuelta came within a whisker of collapse when the race erupted on a transition stage to Guadalajara in the third week.

But this time around the team has continued to make the running in the summit finish stages as they have done since Kuss took the leader's jersey on stage 8 at Xorret de Catí. Currently, the only doubt is which of the three top riders on GC will finally triumph in Madrid.

Stage 16 to Bejes has muddied the waters a little further on that question, but if past Vuelta history is anything to go by, the fearsome slopes of the Angliru may well provide a much more decisive verdict.