Durangoan Sepp Kuss and his Jumbo-Visma teammates have leader Primoz Roglic in fifth place after six stages of the Giro d’Italia, surviving steady rain and rallying after a crash to stay in the hunt for the general classification’s pink jersey.
Roglic started the fifth stage in fifth place overall on Wednesday, but from the start in Atripalda, it rained nonstop.
The wet roads in the finish town of Salerno caused several dangerous situations. The riders of sports director Marc Reef were vigilant, but were shocked to see Roglic involved in a crash.
“Normally, this finish is not a problem. But the rain made it hectic and slippery,” Reef said. “Several riders went off in a right-hand corner with about seven kilometers to go. Primoz was one of them. Koen immediately handed his bike to Primoz. The rest of the guys waited and brought him back to the front. Edoardo Affini did a strong final turn there.”
Roglic ended up finishing 68th, but made it back into the peloton so he didn’t lose any time and remained 1:12 behind overall leader Andrea Leknessund of Team DSM.
In the sixth stage Thursday, Mads Pederson of Trek Segafredo took the stage win, but he was followed by a big peloton and there was no movement among the top-10 GC riders.
Kuss moved down eight places in the GC to 43rd after the 162-kilometer stage on Thursday, 8:02 back. Jumbo Visma, however, is only 1:49 behind INEOS Grenadiers in the team race. Kuss has also scored four mountain points and is currently 11th.
Roglic finished sixth in the race’s opening time trial, 43 seconds behind Remco Evenpoel of Soudal Quick Step. A peloton finish on the second, 202-kilometer stage helped him move up one spot in the GC.
Roglic then moved up two spots on the 213-kilometer third stage with a third-place finish, putting him 44 seconds behind Evenpoel.
Leknessund took the GC lead on a rainy fourth stage through the mountains, taking off in an early breakaway and eventually finishing second. On the final climb of the Colle Molella, there was no attack from the GC, group and Kuss and Roglic crossed with the peloton about two minutes after Leknessund.
“All the teams riding for the classification were happy with the situation,” Reef said. “It served as a test to see how good everyone is as well. We were well represented in the big group with Koen, Sepp and Primoz. Together, we showed that we are in good shape. We have every reason to be confident going into the forthcoming mountain stages.”
The Giro d’Italia features 21 stages and is scheduled to conclude on May 28.
