When Richard Carapaz attacked one last time on the final beyond-category summit climb at the Vuelta a España, race leader and defending champion Primoz Roglic couldn’t go with him. But he got a little help from his friends.
With Team Jumbo-Visma support riders Lennard Hofstede, George Bennett and Durango’s own Sepp Kuss at his side, Roglic was able to finish Stage 17 in 10th place on Saturday at the top of the Aldo de la Covatilla.
Roglic entered the day with a 45-second lead on Carapaz. That lead was cut to only 24 seconds, but it is too little too late for the Ecuadorian rider from the INEOS Grenadiers team. Roglic will enjoy the Stage 18 victory ride into Madrid on Sunday in the leader’s red jersey, which he will keep for a second consecutive year.
“It became very exciting in the last kilometers,” Roglic said in a Team Jumbo-Visma news release. “I knew it would be enough to retain the overall lead if I kept my own pace. In the end, it all falls into place and I’m still wearing the red jersey. Carapaz showed that he is very strong. I didn’t always have everything under control, but I never had the feeling that I would lose the red jersey. I stayed focused and did my own thing. That turned out to be enough to keep my place in the rankings.
“The whole team showed themselves today. My teammates did a really good job today, as they have done throughout the Vuelta. Until now, we have been focused every day. We have to stay focused for one more day and then it’s over.”
France’s David Gaudu won the grueling 110-mile ride Saturday in 4 hours, 54 minutes, 32 seconds. That was 28 seconds in front of Gino Mäder of Switzerland.
Hofstede was riding ahead of the Jumbo-Visma pack but dropped back to support Roglic when it was needed. He finished the stage in 23rd. Kuss, the 26-year-old from Durango, finished his job perfectly with another strong climbing performance. He finished 25th on the stage, five minutes back of the winning time.
Kuss did lose two spots back to 16th overall in the standings. he had a stellar opening week of the Vuelta with three top-10 stage finishes. He sacrificed his own chance at a stage win on Stage 12 on a hard day for Roglic when the Slovenian star briefly lost his red jersey to Carpaz before he claimed it back one stage later on the individual time trial.
It is the final Grand Tour of the 2020 season that has waged on through the COVID-19 pandemic. Roglic finished second at the Tour de France, losing the leader’s jersey the day before the victory ride into Paris. His second consecutive Vuelta victory will go down as a strong consolation for the Team Jumbo-Visma squad.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
