After being dominated out of the Tour de France with COVID-19, Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) makes his return to racing on the Vuelta a Burgos immediately on August 5 earlier than defending his Vuelta a España title later this month.
Kuss hasn’t raced for the reason that Critérium du Dauphiné in June the place he struggled along with his sickness and needed to abandon forward of the ultimate stage after trying properly away from his greatest, with participation in Burgos this week all about re-finding his race rhythm.
“I really feel good. It took me some time to get well from my sickness, however my preparation for this era went easily. Unfortunately, using the Tour was not potential for me, however the altitude coaching in Tignes with some teammates did me properly,” stated Kuss on Visma’s website.
“The Vuelta a Burgos is an ideal preparation for the Vuelta a España. We trip on comparable roads and in the identical heat climate situations. Some difficult phases await wherein I need to present myself, however the principle aim for me is to achieve race rhythm.”
Visma, who received all three Grand Tours in 2023, shall be seeking to bounce again on the Vuelta after lacking out on the Tour de France with Jonas Vingegaard, regardless of his miraculous restoration. Their stacked Vuelta group will embrace Wout van Aert, with the Belgian confirming his participation following the street race on the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“I hope that I can end the race with feeling and that I can add the ultimate touches in direction of the Tour of Spain,” stated Kuss.
Kuss’ pursuit of a second purple jersey begins on August 17 with a time trial in Lisbon, Portugal, with the finale in Madrid arriving on September 8.
Joining Kuss for his ultimate preparations on the Vuelta a Burgos shall be a robust group of Cian Uijtdebroeks, Ben Tulett, Johannes Staune-Mittet, Robert Gesink, Julien Vermote and Edoardo Affini. They’ll have the likes of Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) to deal with for the GC in northern Spain.
Young GC expertise Uijtdebroeks has raced solely as soon as since pulling out of the Giro d’Italia because of illness whereas sitting fifth on GC, so will search for good kind forward of a potential Vuelta a España begin alongside his American chief.
“Besides Sepp, Cian Uijtdebroeks additionally had a relaxation and coaching interval. They had been each in a position to put together very properly in Tignes. We undoubtedly need to get a effective end result, however our essential aim is to go away the race with feeling,” stated DS Marc Reef.
“We see the Vuelta a Burgos as the last word incentive in direction of our greater aim. In addition, younger riders like Ben Tulett and Johannes Staune-Mittet will get their probability to indicate themselves.”
The Vuelta a Burgos runs for 5 phases from August 5 to 9, with the basic Lagunas de Neila summit end approaching stage 3.
