Sepp Kuss Vuelta hopes surged on Saturday after a long-range attack on stage 20 transformed his overall position.
The 2023 Vuelta a EspaƱa champion began the Queen stage in 11th overall. He sat 11:04 behind race leader Enric Mas before the final mountain test. By the finish, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider had climbed six places to fifth.
Sepp Kuss Vuelta move starts early
Kuss made his first major move on the opening ascent of the Puerto de El Purche. More than 100km remained when the Coloradan went clear from the GC group.
Richard Carapaz accelerated soon afterward and bridged across to Kuss. Felix Gall then closed them down before the summit. Kuss waited for the second passage over El Purche to make the move count.
He later said the team knew he could not rely on joining the early break. The target had been a stage victory, but the road situation changed quickly. A large group already held a major gap before the first time over Purche.
Kuss said he had ānothing to loseā once the opportunity appeared. He also had several teammates ahead, which shaped the rest of the stage.
Visma-Lease a Bike had already placed riders in important positions. Wout van Aert attacked from the start alongside Ivo Oliveira of UAE Emirates-XRG. Their aggression helped create a large breakaway.
Van Aert pursued mountains points and also won the intermediate sprint. Behind that move, JĆørgen Nordhaagen, Steven Kruijswijk, Matthew Brennan and Bruno Armirail entered the first chase group.
Visma support drives Kuss up the standings
Once Kuss connected with teammates, the move gathered force. Van Aert took long turns on the front and dragged the group forward alone. Nordhaagen later helped Kuss when the effort began to show on the final climb.
Kuss credited the whole Visma-Lease a Bike squad after the finish. He described the race as a day when the plan came together at every moment. He said it never felt as if he rode alone.
The stage win had gone beyond Kuss by then. Mikel Landa of Soudal Quick-Step rode to victory, taking his first win in many years.
Kuss still gained heavily in the general classification. He finished 4:35 behind Landa, but 2:02 ahead of Gall, the strongest rider from the GC group behind. Mas lost another 17 seconds beyond Gall.
Those gains moved Kuss from 11th to fifth overall. He now sits 8:45 behind the race lead. Carapaz remains 1:51 ahead of him, while Oscar Onley is 43 seconds behind.
With only Sunday remaining, Kuss looks likely to finish fifth overall. If that holds, it would be the second-best Grand Tour general classification result of his career. His best remains the 2023 Vuelta a EspaƱa victory.
The performance also continued a strong Grand Tour season for Kuss. He won stage 19 of the Giro dāItalia and placed third on stage 20 of the Tour de France.
As in 2023, his best Vuelta form has arrived after racing the Giro and Tour earlier in the season. Stage 20 showed again how dangerous Kuss can become when hard racing and team depth align.
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