2023 Vuelta a España winner Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) remained decided to see the glass as half-full after a troublesome, first mountain high end on stage 4 at Pico Villuercas noticed him lose time on three-time total champion Primoz Roglič (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) however stay very a lot in competition.
Dropped as Roglič cranked up the facility after a searing first kilometre of the steepest a part of the Villuercas, the cemented part referred to as Collado de Ballesteros, Kuss crossed the road 28 seconds again.
Whereas by no means ideally suited to lose time on Roglič, and with different high names like three-time Vuelta runner-up Enric Mas (Movistar) and João Almeida (UAE Staff Emirates) additionally forward of him on the line, Kuss was on no account as far off the tempo as different GC contenders like Adam Yates (UAE Staff Emirates) and Richard Carapaz (EF Training-EasyPost) had been each 1:29 again.
Now thirteenth total, Kuss appeared to regain momentum deeper into the Vuelta, with stage 9 to Granada over varied fearsome ascents within the Sierra Nevada arguably his subsequent finest alternative.
However whereas pointing to Roglič as the important thing favorite from hereon in after his blazing efficiency on Pico Villuercas, because the American stated afterwards, the time loss was not as unhealthy as he had feared it might have been mid-climb, and he remained very a lot within the GC sport.
“It was tremendous robust, the warmth made it exhausting and in addition the entry to the climb with such a giant group meant it was fairly nervous,” Kuss stated.
“I didn’t have the very best of emotions, however then I noticed I had [only] misplaced 20, 30 seconds, so I will be pleased with that, really.”
With temperatures hovering to 40C levels mid-stage, Kuss additionally pointed to the warmth as affecting the entire day’s racing, with a really sluggish build-up then culminating within the high-speed sprint to the nook of the steepest section of the ascent.
“It was fairly calm all day, I feel everyone was saving a bit as a result of in case you go over the restrict on this warmth, you positively really feel it and everybody positively did really feel it in the long run,” he defined.
Nevertheless, when the crunch second got here and the highway steepened inexorably, if Kuss pale, Roglič greater than lived as much as his function as the important thing reference level within the Vuelta. However as Kuss stated, the Slovenian was all the time seeking to be in beautiful type and the outcome on Villuercas was something however shocking.
“For positive, everyone knew he was going to be the favorite and that he was going to be actually sturdy like he all the time is, particularly within the Vuelta. That is the affirmation. He rode from the underside of the climb to the highest and he appeared fairly sturdy to me.”
The US rider remained within the working although, and in a race as robust because the Vuelta, no one can afford to make too many predictions from one first summit stage. But the state of affairs Roglič created with stage 4, meant that if Kuss desires to win a second successive Vuelta a España in 2024, the Slovenian was already in pole place to be as formidable a rival as ever.
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