A high-pace climbing day in the Pyrenees would typically suit Durango’s Sepp Kuss well. That wasn’t the case Saturday after his grueling effort Saturday.
The 25-year-old professional cyclist for Team Jumbo-Visma wasn’t able to support team lead Primoz Roglic to the finish line on the first of two big days of climbing in the Pyrenees this weekend before Monday’s first rest day of this Tour de France.
Kuss took some big pulls at the front during Friday’s mostly flat stage. He took on heavy crosswinds at times and had to give maximum effort on the 104-mile stage.
Saturday, Kuss was expected to once more be in a starring role, but as the pace stayed high on a shorter 88-mile ride that included two Category 1 climbs as well as the hors category climb of Port de Balès at 7.7% grades for more than seven miles.
Kuss, one of the strongest climbers at the Tour, unexpectedly dropped off the pace.
Tom Dumoulin, a co-team leader along with Roglic, was thrust into a supporting role for Roglic and did well to get the yellow-jersey hopeful from Slovenia to the finish line in 16th place alongside the rest of the Tour leaders to keep Roglic in second place only three seconds back of Mitchelton-Scott rider Adam Yates of Great Britain.
“It was not an easy stage”, Roglic said in a Jumbo-Visma news release. “The team has shown once again today that it is very strong. During the penultimate climb, Dumoulin indicated that he would work for the team because he did not feel great. He did an excellent job, because due to his work, the group quickly got smaller and smaller. It was a strong pull. We try to do our best every day to achieve the highest. I am still in a good position and the Tour takes another two weeks. Anything can happen.”
Kuss would finish the stage in 90th, 25:33 behind the winning time of AG2R La Mondiale rider Nans Peters, who won the stage in 4:02:12. He was 47 seconds in front of Trek-Segafredo rider Toms Skujins and Movistar Team’s Carlos Verona.
Roglic and Yates were in the group 6:40 behind Peters. Dumoulin rolled in 30th, 8:47 back to fall from fifth place to 15th. He went from a 13-second deficit to Yates to 2:20 down.
Kuss is now in 36th, 26:35 down.
“There will be enough mountain stages in the next two weeks,” Jumbo-Visma rider George Bennett said. “It is not necessary to gain time every day. You also have to divide your strengths and energy. The plan was to shake things up a bit on the Balès and put some pressure on. Unfortunately, Sepp paid the price a bit for his hard work in (Friday’s) crosswinds. And to be honest, I am not completely 100% fit either after my crash in Nice. But I expect to be back to my old self in a few days. It was a strong team performance today. Especially Wout, Robert, Tony and Amund were outstanding, and Primoz is still in a good position. Tom wasn’t feeling great. What he did for the team today also proves that he is not only a leader, but also a team player. He easily puts his own interests aside for the interest of the team. We have a goal and that is to win the Tour, and it will remain the same after today. The team is in a good flow, and we have a lot of confidence in it.”
The big move of the day came from Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates. After he lost 1:21 on Friday, he was able to gain back 33 seconds Saturday to get back into ninth place overall only 48 seconds down.
Time will tell if Kuss can recover for Sunday’s Stage 9, which is 95 miles again with climbs in the Pyrenees. It features two more Category 1 climbs of Col de la Hourcere and Col de Maria Blanque. Kuss maintained going into the Tour that his goal was to be strong for the third, and final, week of the Tour, which features hard climbing days in the Alps leading up to the decisive Stage 20 uphill individual time trial.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
