After four stages of the Vuelta a España, three Jumbo-Visma cyclists are in the top-15 of the general classification, including Sepp Kuss of Durango.
Remco Evenepoel, the defending champ from Soudal-Quick Step, leads GC, but Jonas Vingeggard is only 31 seconds back in fourth. Primoz Roglic is 37 seconds back in eighth, and Kuss trails by 49 seconds in 12th.
Kuss had a huge effort during the first mountain stage on Monday. For a considerable time, the peloton trailed a lead group of nine riders.
When the last of the early escapees were caught on the final climb, Kuss was the first to make a move. The American, who lives in Andorra, forced the peloton to chase. Vingegaard, Roglic and Wilco Kelderman closely followed.
Once the peloton caught up with Kuss, he continued to lead the group of favorites.
It stayed together until the sprint in the final kilometer. Evenepoel was the fastest, finishing just ahead of Vingegaard and Roglic.
“The crowd was fantastic,” Kuss said. “They gave me a lot of extra motivation. It was great to hear my name as I went up the last climb. It doesn't matter how worn out you are. It gives you a boost every time. With my attack, I wanted to test Primoz and Jonas' rivals. That way, we challenged them. It gives us confidence that Jonas and Primoz were among the best at the finish. That’s good news for the coming stages.”
Andres Kron of Lotto Dstny won Stage 2 and Kaden Groves of Alpecin Deceuninck won Stage 4, but a huge group finished in the same time as both riders, so the GC didn’t change much on those stages.
