The job of Sepp Kuss at the Tour de France is nearly over. For his team and race leader Primož Roglic, he could not have done any better.
The 26-year-old professional cyclist from Durango safely finished Stage 18 of the Tour de France on Thursday. One day after his stunning effort on the steepest and tallest climb of this year’s route helped send Roglic from a 40-second lead to 57 seconds ahead of second-place Tadej Pogacar, there was no difference in the chase for the yellow jersey Thursday. Anytime Pogacar tried to attack on the final mountain stage, Kuss and the Team Jumbo-Visma riders were there to counter.
Thursday’s stage featured five categorized climbs, including two Category 1 ascents and one beyond classification during the 109-mile route.
Out of contention after team leader and defending champion Egan Bernal abandoned the Tour on Wednesday, there was no challenge when the Ineos Grenadiers riders Michal Kwiatkowski and Richard Carapaz broke away and rode together across the finish line in 4 hours, 47 minutes, 33 seconds. Kwiatkowski eared the stage victory.
The race was for third with critical time bonuses up for grabs between Roglic and Pogacar. In the end, Jumbo-Visma sprinter Wout van Aert would race into third place to claim the final time bonus. Roglic followed in fourth with Pogacar fifth. That kept Roglic’s lead at 57 seconds going into the final three stages with only Saturday’s individual time trial a real possibility for anyone to close the gap on Roglic.
“This was another fantastic team performance,” Roglic said in a Jumbo-Visma news release. “All day, we rode where we had to be and we were in constant control. It was very difficult with the sequence of climbs and the number of altitude meters. We did that well, and we were still well represented in the end. We are one day closer to Paris, but we are still not there yet. We keep focusing on ourselves and we have to be ready if something unexpected happens in tomorrow’s stage. I feel good and I am very confident for tomorrow and Saturday’s time trial.”
The depth of Jumbo-Visma was again on display with Van Aert making critical moves all day. Dumoulin and Kuss, too, played a key role in getting Roglic to the finish in perfect position.
Dumoulin finished the stage 10th, 1:54 behind Kwiatkowski. Kuss placed 11th, just missing his third top-10 stage finish of the Tour in the last week.
Van Aert, Kuss and Dumoulin countered key attacks on an unpaved section of Montée du Plateau des Glières, the hors category climb of the day. Attacks came from Mikel Landa, Enric Mas and Pogacar.
“Wout is really incredible. He single-handedly made sure that Landa couldn’t take much of a lead and that the rest couldn’t attack earlier,” Dumoulin said. “Many of the GC guys even had a hard time following him. Then, when Pogacar attacked, Sepp stayed with Primož to support him. Wout and I couldn’t go with them, but we managed to come back in the final. I then did a leadout for Wout. I think it could have been possible for Primož to sprint for the time bonuses, but it was a lot safer if Wout would take them in front of Pogacar. This was another great team effort. I feel better every day and I am already looking forward to the time trial. I haven’t done a time trial in a long time, but I am very motivated to show myself.”
Kuss and Jumbo-Visma safely defended Roglic’s lead after four consecutive mountain stages.
Stage 19 Friday is mostly flat for 103½ miles. Then will come Saturday’s uphill individual time trial of 22½ miles before Sunday’s final ride into Paris.
Kuss has had one of the best performances for any team support rider. He is in 15th place overall, 35:54 behind the lead of his teammate.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
