“I noticed that he was falling behind”: Teammates simply left Vuelta leader Kuss behind

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On his 29th birthday, Vuelta leader Sepp Kuss continues to lose time to his closest pursuers: Jonas Vingegaard (26) and Primoz Roglic (33). This duo – just like Kuss – rides for the Jumbo-Visma team.

The Slovenian Roglic and the Dane Vingegaard leave their American noble helper behind in the last kilometers of the 17th stage up to the Alto de l’Angliru, which is up to 24 percent steep. Roglic in particular continues in the dense fog and wins ahead of Vingegaard at the same time. Kuss finished the day 19 seconds behind in third place. In the general classification his lead shrinks to eight (Vingegaard) and 68 seconds (Roglic). There is no danger to other drivers.

For Kuss it would be the greatest success

The question arises: do two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard and three-time Vuelta and Giro winner Roglic absolutely want to push their loyal teammate from first place and thus spoil his most important victory?

“I noticed that Sepp was falling behind,” Roglic admits at the finish after the 17th stage. He shrugs and says, “I ran at my own pace.” Vingegaard puts it this way: “To be honest, I’m happy that Sepp is still in the red leader’s jersey. I would like to see him win this Tour of Spain.”

It seems that it will be very difficult for Kuss to defend his leading position in the last four stages, with another 4100 meters of altitude on Thursday. There is of course no team order, the strongest will win – and that currently appears to be Vingegaard. (yes/SDA)

Source : Blick