A yr is a very long time in biking. Twelve months in the past, Sepp Kuss rode into Madrid within the crimson jersey as his Jumbo-Visma workforce accomplished a sweep of each the Vuelta a España podium and the season’s Grand Tours. On Sunday night, the Vuelta had a extra low-key finale for Kuss, who ended the race in 14th place total, greater than 20 minutes behind his former teammate Primož Roglič.
Now plying his commerce with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Roglič’s win was the ultimate instalment in Slovenia’s dominance of the season’s Grand Tours after Tadej Pogačar’s triumphs on the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France.
It has been a extra sobering season for Kuss’ squad, rebranded as Visma-Lease a Bike, with unwell fortune a relentless all year long. Jonas Vingegaard carried out remarkably to position second on the Tour after a career-threatening crash at Itzulia Basque Country, whereas Wout van Aert suffered season-defining falls at Dwars door Vlaanderen and once more on this Vuelta.
Kuss endured his share of arduous luck too, lacking the Tour de France after contracting COVID-19 in June. Although he received the Vuelta a Burgos on his return to competitors in August, Kuss by no means fairly regarded as much as the pitch of Roglič et al on the Vuelta. His title defence, already flagging within the opening part, had basically ended by the point the race reached Asturias on the finish of the second week.
With a lot arduous terrain within the last part of the race, Kuss had hoped to hunt a stage victory on the Alto del Moncalvillo or Picón Blanco, however as a substitute he slipped additional down the standings. It was that type of race.
“Now I’m glad it’s over,” Kuss acknowledged when he accomplished his time trial in Madrid on Sunday night time. “The final two days I actually suffered loads, and so they glided by slowly. I’m glad it’s over. But I discovered loads on this race, as I do in each Grand Tour. It’s been a tough one.”
It’s by no means simple to dissect a disappointing Grand Tour, significantly in the course of a loud ending space instantly after finishing the final of the race’s 3,265km. There can be time sufficient for a full debrief within the weeks forward, however on Sunday night, Kuss was reluctant to quote his illness-interrupted summer time as a proof.
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“It’s arduous to say. I imply, I didn’t have my greatest kind however on a whole lot of phases I used to be actually pleased with my efficiency. It’s simply the extent is tremendous excessive,” Kuss stated. “There’s no excuses, actually. You can at all times say one factor or one other, however on the finish of the day all people has hurdles and issues or excuses. I simply must be higher subsequent time round.”
The Vuelta victory of final yr was all of the extra notable as a result of Kuss had performed such a vital supporting function for Roglič on the Giro and for Vingegaard on the Tour. Rather than really feel drained by these efforts, Kuss appeared ready to attract on deep reservoirs of endurance as August flipped into September. This outing, the Vuelta was his first Grand Tour the yr and he felt missing in some departments.
“I feel on this race I seen on the more durable days that I missed that little bit of racing health that you simply solely get from races or from doing Grand Tours,” Kuss stated. “But for positive, doing three Grand Tours isn’t one thing that’s tremendous sustainable yearly. For me, it was arduous to overlook the Tour in itself, but it surely was additionally arduous to overlook it when it comes to making ready for the Vuelta.”
For a lot of the Vuelta, Visma-Lease a Bike had nonetheless regarded destined to safe a podium spot in Madrid, with Van Aert having fun with a resurgence on Spanish roads after a damaged collarbone had ended his Classics marketing campaign prematurely.
The Belgian had an early spell within the crimson jersey and after amassing three stage victories, and he led each the factors and mountains classifications firstly of the third week. Van Aert’s race and season ended, nonetheless, when he sustained a deep reduce to his knee in a crash on the descent of the Collada Llomena on stage 16.
“With the three phases Wout received, we have been actually on a excessive and he was going for the mountains jersey and that was a complete different goal,” Kuss stated. “To be trustworthy, when he needed to abandon the race due to a crash, I feel it was actually arduous for all of us, as a result of all of us missed that type of focus, together with myself. It was actually arduous to recalibrate after that.”