Sepp Kuss’ consistency continues at the Tour de France. The Durangoan riding for Team Visma-Lease a Bike has moved into the top 15 of the general classification standings after Stage 16.
Kuss finished 29th in the 171.5-kilometer Stage 16. The mountain stage started in Montpellier, France and ended in Mont Ventoux, France, on Tuesday.
Soudal Quick Step’s Valentin Paret-Peintre won the stage in four hours, three minutes and 19 seconds. Kuss finished 5:12 behind.
Kuss’ 29th place in Stage 16 was the seventh consecutive stage that he finished inside the top 45.
Because of his consistency, Kuss jumped up two spots in the GC to 15th. Kuss’ best GC Tour finish was 12th in 2023 and he also finished 15th in 2020.
Tadej Pogačar leads the GC standings after 16 stages and has a commanding 4:15 lead over Kuss’ teammate Jonas Vingegaard in second. Kuss is 47:59 behind Pogačar in the GC.
Fellow Durangoan Quinn Simmons remains in the top 50 of the GC standings after 16 stages. He had a strong day at the front of the field in the breakaway on Monday during Stage 15 before he cracked toward the end. Stage 15 started in Muret, France and riders battled for 169.3 km before finishing in Carcassonne, France.
Simmons finished 21st, 1:36 behind stage-winner Tim Wellens.
Riding for Lidl-Trek, Simmons attacked from the front of the peloton with about 96 km left. This kicked off a chain of attacks to try and close the gap to the lead group of 14 riders.
The Lidl-Trek rider got into the lead group of three with about 89 km left and they were about nine seconds ahead of the chase group.
Simmons remained in the hunt and was in the lead group as it expanded to 11 riders with about 55 km left.
The lead group dropped to four and Simmons was one of them with about 53 km left. He got three points on the last climb for king of the mountain.
Wellens attacked with 43 km left and gapped Simmons and the rest of the leaders. He had 56 seconds on the chasers with about 30 km left.
Simmons attacked the chase group with about 5 km left, but couldn’t hold on and fell back to 21st.
Kuss finished 43rd on Stage 15, 6:07 behind Wellens.
After the stage, Simmons was critical of the moto drivers and the effect on the outcome of the stage they had. Simmons suggested that Wellens had used the moto drivers to help him win the stage.
“The strongest guy in the best moment with the moto,” Simmons said after he was asked by ITV if the strongest rider won the stage.
On Tuesday, Simmons finished 67th in stage 16, 20:52 behind Paret-Peintre in first.
Simmons is 50th in the GC standings, 2:02:23 behind Pogačar.
Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan leads the points classification for the green jersey with 251 points; Pogačar is second with 240 points and Biniam Girmay is third with 169 points. Simmons is eighth with 93 points.
Pogačar leads the king of the mountain standings with 60 points but Lenny Martinez also has 60 points in second.
Florian Lipowitz had a 2:01 lead over Oscar Onley in the youth classification; Simmons is 12th and 1:53:20 behind.
Kuss’ Visma-Lease a Bike squad leads the team classification by 15:08 over Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG in second. Lidl-Trek is 19th.
Next up for Kuss and Simmons is a flat 160.4 km Stage 17 on Wednesday and a 171.5 km mountain stage on Thursday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
