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 (Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) however stay very a lot in rivalry.
Dropped as Roglič cranked up the facility after a searing first kilometre of the steepest a part of the Villuercas, the cemented part often known as Collado de Ballesteros, Kuss crossed the road 28 seconds again.
Whereas by no means ultimate 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 by no means as far off the tempo as different GC contenders like Adam Yates (UAE Staff Emirates) and Richard Carapaz (EF Training-EasyPost) have been each 1:29 again.
Now thirteenth total, Kuss seemed to regain momentum deeper into the Vuelta, with stage 9 to Granada over numerous fearsome ascents within the Sierra Nevada arguably his subsequent greatest alternative.
However whereas pointing to Roglič as the important thing favorite from hereon in after his blazing efficiency on Pico Villuercas, because the American mentioned afterwards, the time loss was not as unhealthy as he had feared it may have been mid-climb, and he remained very a lot within the GC recreation.
“It was tremendous robust, the warmth made it laborious and in addition the entry to the climb with such a giant group meant it was fairly nervous,” Kuss mentioned.
“I didn’t have the most effective of emotions, however then I noticed I had [only] misplaced 20, 30 seconds, so I could be proud of 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 gradual 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 believe all people was saving a bit as a result of should 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.
Nonetheless, when the crunch second got here and the street 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 mentioned, the Slovenian was all the time trying to be in beautiful kind and the outcome on Villuercas was something however stunning.
“For certain, all people knew he was going to be the favorite and that he was going to be actually robust 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 seemed fairly robust to me.”
The US rider remained within the working although, and in a race as robust because the Vuelta, no person can afford to make too many predictions from one first summit stage. But the situation Roglič created with stage 4, meant that if Kuss needs 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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