2023-09-14 17:40:00
While Jonas Vingegaard had lost a total of 1:36 minutes to his teammate Sepp Kuss on the previous two days and came within eight seconds of the red jersey, this time the Jumbo stars demonstrated unity.
Neither Vingegaard nor Primoz Roglic made an attack on the final climb. Instead, both drove directly in front of Kuss and protected the man in red. When Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) tried to open a gap, it was Vingegaard who drove Kuss and the rest of the group back towards the Spaniard.
In the last few meters, Vingegaard even let something slip, so that this time Kuss gained nine seconds on the two-time Tour de France winner. Meanwhile, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) made up three seconds on Landa in the fight for fourth place with a final attack in the last kilometer.
“Today was about protecting Sepp,” Vingegaard explained afterwards to Eurosport. At the same time, however, he warned against getting too excited: “Of course there is a pretty tough stage on the program on Saturday, so we have to be very careful. We will have to fight until Madrid.” Regarding the teamwork for Kuss, he said: “Of course it’s great to be able to give something back to him. He did so much for Primoz and me, today I wanted to return the favor.”
United Jumbo forces on the mountain – Kiss defends Red
Vuelta 2023 – Kiss: “Guys did a great job”
The praise for the help came immediately. “First of all, I would like to say that the guys did a great job, I was pulled all day. Jonas set a really strong pace,” said Kuss, thanking him for the support. At the same time, he also admitted that he was a little afraid of Vingegaard’s pace. “His ‘easy’ pace isn’t necessarily easy for others. He rode really wonderfully for me,” the 29-year-old continued.
Kuss also revealed: “We as a team and the three of us among ourselves had agreed on two strategies: one up to the Angliru stage and one for afterwards. Today we had a more defensive approach.”
Kuss thanks Vingegaard: “It drives wonderfully for me”
At the time of the seconds battles in the favorites group, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) had long since reached the finish line. The Belgian crowned a strong 29-kilometer solo on Thursday and celebrated his third victory of the day in this Vuelta. The 23-year-old had previously won the 3rd stage in Andorra and the 14th stage in Larra-Belagua. It was also his 50th success as a professional.
Vuelta 2023: Evenepoel completes triumph in the mountains classification
Nevertheless, Evenepoel will most likely be on the podium at the big awards ceremony in Madrid on Sunday. Because the Belgian not only took victory on Thursday, but also diligently collected points in the mountains classification. This means that the mountain jersey can no longer be taken away from the Belgian on this Tour of Spain. But of course he has to reach his goal in Madrid.
Mental Monster! Evenepoel completes the triple with a dream solo
Second on the day on Thursday was Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), who, like Evenepoel, was part of the top group of the day on the 178.9 kilometer long section from Pola de Allande to La Cruz de Linares. But when Evenepoel pulled up on the first descent of the Puerto de La Cruz de Linares, the Italian could no longer keep up. At the finish he was 4:44 minutes behind the reigning time trial world champion. Third place went to Andreas Kron (Lotto-Dstny/+5:10), who won the second stage in Barcelona at the start of the tour.
Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) was also in the top group. But the 2019 Tour winner didn’t have the legs to keep up with Evenepoel either. The Colombian finished the day in seventh place (+7:01).
Vuelta 2023: Things remain close between Kuss and Vingegaard
In the overall ranking, despite the small time difference at the finish in La Cruz de Linares, it remains close between Kuss and Vingegaard. The American leads by 17 seconds over the two-time Tour de France winner. Primoz Roglic is 1:08 minutes behind.
In the fight for fourth place, Ayuso gained some breathing room. The 20-year-old is 19 seconds ahead of Landa, but he is still 2:52 minutes away from the podium. The jumbo triple success is therefore becoming increasingly likely. But no one in the Dutch team wants to be happy too early. “It’s getting closer and closer. Tomorrow there’s a slightly easier stage, but we have to stay focused. The 20th stage will be long and hard again. We’re out of the mountains, but there are still difficult parts,” warned Kuss before the last three days
Behind Ayuso and Landa follows another Spaniard, Enric Mas (Movistar/+4:30). Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-hansgrohe/+7:37) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe/+8:35) lost time, but retained their positions seven and eight.
However, Uijtdebroeks also lost further seconds in the fight for the junior ranking. The young Belgian lost 54 seconds to the leader Ayuso and is now 3:37 minutes behind the Spaniard in second place. At least this second place should be relatively safe for the Bora professional. His lead over third place Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) is 2:43 minutes.
Warm words: Vingegaard wants to “return the favor” from Kiss
Vuelta 2023: Kaden Groves continues in the green jersey
With his third success, Evenepoel came within 36 points of Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the battle for green. However, since there are two flat stages on the last three days, the 2022 road world champion should no longer pose a threat to the Australian. The second best sprinter in the points standings is Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates), 150 points behind.
The first of the two flat stages follows on Friday. The 19th stage from La Bañeza to Íscar is 177.1 kilometers long and does not have a single mountain classification. As long as the sprinters and their teams don’t have too heavy legs after the hard days in the mountains, there should be a mass sprint in Íscar.
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