A tailwind made it a nervous day in the peloton. Luckily, the riders were able to avoid any trouble on the first sprint stage of the 2020 Vuelta a España.
Durango’s Sepp Kuss, a 26-year-old Team Jumbo-Visma rider, was able to finish safely Friday in 20th place. It was the first time during this year’s Vuelta he has not finished in the top 10 on the stage, but he finished in the same time as winner Sam Bennett, who out-sprinted Jasper Philipsen and Jackub Mareczko to win in 3 hours, 53 minutes, 29 seconds on the 119-mile route from Garray to Ejea de los Caballeros.
Right in front of Kuss was Jumbo-Visma team leader Primož Roglic, who retained the race leader’s red jersey for another day with his result. The Slovenian maintained a five-second lead on Ireland’s Dan Martin.
“It was definitely not an easy day,” Roglic said in a Jumbo-Visma news release. “There was a lot of tailwind. As a result, it was a very fast stage and the peloton rode very nervously. We had to remain focused and alert, and we couldn’t afford to weaken for a moment. The team once again did a good job to keep me in the front. We cannot afford to make mistakes, and certainly not in a stage like this. We have to stay sharp.”
Kuss is still in sixth place, 44 seconds behind the lead time of Roglic. He will have a chance to climb even higher the next two days as the Vuelta goes back into the mountains Saturday and Sunday before Monday’s first rest day of the 18-stage race.
Saturday will see plenty of climbing before the peloton even reaches the first of three categorized climbs. There will be a fast downhill finish in Sabiñánigo.
Sunday’s stage has been changed because of COVID-19 restrictions in France. Instead of the anticipated queen stage with several beyond categorization climbs, there will be a Category 3 and Category climb before the final summit finish on a Category 1 climb. That means Stage 12 with the famed climb of Alto de l’Angrilu will likely be the queen stage and be the most decisive for the general classification battle.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
