Sepp Kuss could not, a minimum of not but, be as much as tackling Tadej Pogačar (UAE Workforce Emirates) on the climbs of Volta a Catalunya. However the race’s second straight Pyrenean summit end on Wednesday noticed the Visma-Lease a Bike star tackle a much more lively, and in the end extra worthwhile function, within the stage’s ultimate mountain battle.
Following a mid-climb assault on Port Ainé by Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) and the race chief’s devastating counter-move, Kuss made a searing cost throughout to Landa and the 2 started working exhausting to restrict Pogačar’s solo bid for glory.
The final time Landa and Kuss had labored collectively on a mountain climb was when the Basque rider and North American powered by the mists of the Angliru within the 2023 Vuelta a España, chasing down Kuss’ teammates Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič in protection of Kuss total lead.
This time round, in very completely different circumstances, Kuss lastly dropped again to complete fifth in a gaggle of three chasers behind Pogačar and Landa, shifting to seventh total. No acquire on GC is ever to be sneezed at, in fact.
Maybe extra importantly, Kuss confirmed on Wednesday that he had extra within the tank proper now than his regular however in any other case unremarkable journey to twelfth on stage 2 at Vallter 2000, 24 hours earlier, would have urged.
“I’m doing nicely, we tried to make the stage exhausting, and at last we’ve to be happy with our efficiency,” Kuss mentioned, referring to how Visma-Lease a Bike had stepped up the tempo on the interminably-long second ascent of the day, the 25-kilometre Port del Canto, earlier than he moved into motion himself at Port Ainé.
“I used to be not well-placed when Landa attacked, and I attempted to shut the hole, however Pogačar had already gone,” Kuss mentioned. “We tried to work collectively, however there was a robust headwind and it wasn’t that straightforward.”
Now simply 70 seconds behind second-placed Landa total, though Pogačar is all however out of attain, Kuss remained optimistic about his possibilities of constructing on GC.
That’s notably true given stage 6’s journey by the mountains of central Catalunya is such a troublesome climbing day, a lot of which takes place on roads the Andorra-based rider is aware of just like the again of his hand from coaching within the space.
“On Saturday something may nonetheless occur,” he predicted. “I’m nonetheless hoping for a prime 5, perhaps even having a strive on the podium. We’ll go on racing in the way in which we do and see what occurs.”
Kuss defined that the technique on the Cantó had been to whittle down the opposition, “as a result of there are loads of guys who’d be more energizing in the long run”.
“For us, it was higher to do a great tempo and see what may occur on the climb. It was good to attempt to present ourselves, it was enjoyable to race. I’m more than happy with the way it labored out. It went significantly better than yesterday, I felt lots higher and we’ve to be happy with the staff too. Hopefully, tomorrow [Thursday] will probably be a neater day, although and we are able to relaxation up a bit.
“It’s going to be very troublesome to go for that,” he mentioned when requested if Pogačar was nonetheless beatable. “We’ve to attempt to comply with him however with out blowing up.
“I’m nonetheless wanting ahead to Saturday, although, and issues may nonetheless occur on Sunday’s grand finale.”
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