Sepp Kuss’ consistency in the last five stages of the Tour de France has really started to pay off for the Durangoan.
Kuss, riding for Team Visma-Lease a Bike, hasn’t finished outside the top 45 in a stage since Stage 9 on July 13. His strong form continued on Saturday in Stage 14 and Kuss jumped up to 17th in the Tour’s general classification because of it.
The 30-year-old Durangoan finished the 182.6-kilometer Stage 14 from Pau, France, to Luchon-Superbagnères, France, in 22nd out of 167 finishers. He finished in 5:01:49, 8:14 behind stage winner Thymen Arensman. Tadej Pogačar finished second, 1:08 behind, followed by Kuss’ Visma-Lease a Bike team leader Jonas Vingegaard in third, 1:12 behind.
Stage 14 was another mountain stage, the second in three days, and Kuss took advantage of his climbing skills early and got in the breakaway with his teammate Simon Yates.
Kuss got to the front with about 60 km left, but couldn’t hold his position and cracked on the last climb, falling to 22nd.
“We wanted to try and win from the breakaway,” Visma-Lease a Bike Head of Racing Grischa Niermann said in a press release. “With Sepp and Simon up there, we were in a good position, but unfortunately they ran into a very strong Arensman.”
Fellow Durangoan Quinn Simmons had a decent Stage 14, finishing 64th and 34:15 behind Arensman in first.
Pogačar still leads the general classification in 50:40:28, 4:13 ahead of Vingegaard in second. Kuss jumped up three spots to 17th in the GC and is 43:30 behind Pogačar.
Kuss’ best Tour finish was 12th in 2023 and also finished 15th in 2020.
Riding for Lidl-Trek, Simmons is 49th in the GC after Stage 14.
Jonathan Milan, riding for Lidl-Trek, leads the points classification with 251 points. Pogačar is second with 223 points. Simmons is eighth with 93 points.
Lenny Martinez, riding Bahrain-Victorious, is the new leader of the king of the mountain standings with 60 points. Pogačar is second with 52 points. Kuss is 15th with nine points and Simmons is 21st with five points.
After Remco Evenepoel abandoned the Tour, Florian Lipowitz, riding for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, is the new leader of the youth standings. Team Picnic PostNL’s Oscar Onley is second, 1:25 behind. Simmons is 12th, 1:38:52 behind Lipowitz.
Visma-Lease a Bike still leads the team standings, with a 13:48 advantage over Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Stage 13 was a 10.9 km time trial and Kuss finished 21st while Simmons was 74th. Pogačar took the time trial win, followed by Vingegaard in second.
Riders will battle a hilly stage 15 on Sunday before the Tour’s second rest day on Monday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
