Niermann and Kuss admitted they already knew this morning: "We talked more about winning in red than defending the jersey"

It wasn't easy, as UAE Team Emirates - XRG put Visma | Lease a Bike under pressure. Despite feeling under the weather, João Almeida planned to attack Vingegaard on the steep Bola del Mundo climb, which meant the pace was scorching fast all day long. UAE used the entire team to cause ‘fatigue in the legs’.

“It was a great stage, very tough as expected,” Kuss said afterwards to Eurosport. “We knew UAE would go all out, but Jonas was excellent on the final climb. We also had a lot of guys there, which is great for the team and the domestiques who have worked so hard.” In addition to Kuss, Matteo Jorgenson and even Wilco Kelderman were also able to keep up for a long time.

The Dutch team took first and second place in the stage with Vingegaard and Kuss, securing the red jersey and seeing Kuss (seventh) and Jorgenson (tenth) also finish in the top ten. Thanks to their aggressive riding and seven stage wins, UAE Emirates-XRG took the overall classification, but the top ten shows the dominance of Visma | Lease a Bike.

After all, the Bola del Mundo does not lie and was as tough as Kuss had expected. In the last kilometer and a half, Vingegaard struck mercilessly hard. "It was so steep that it was tough to get out of the saddle. You feel the steep sections even more when the surface is so rough. Jonas chose a good moment to go, and I tried to slow it down behind him. It was impressive to see."

With the power of UAE Team Emirates - XRG, the pressure was turned up considerably, but was the American afraid of the red? “That's hard to say. There are always difficult moments when you feel your legs more than usual, but with a stage like this, it comes down to the final climb because it was so steep. We didn't expect anyone to do anything crazy, but you never know.”

With the stage victory, Vingegaard extended his lead over second-placed João Almeida to 1.16 minutes, with one stage to go. The final stage to Madrid is normally a traditional parade, where the red jersey will not be in danger. But there will be no champagne tonight. “No, I'd rather have a beer,” laughs Kuss. “Champagne sounds very unpleasant at the moment. I'll have an Estrella.”

Sports director Grischa Niermann saw his protégé win his third Grand Tour, after winning the Tour de France twice. “I'd rather accept the congratulations tomorrow, but normally the Vuelta is over then,” says the German. “It was a fantastic ride by all the guys, and a great final mountain stage for us.”

The pressure from UAE was never too much. "We knew UAE would make the race hard to put pressure on Jonas. But the guys protected him well all day. We talked more about winning in red than defending the jersey. Jonas had the right legs, and everything went very well. He had to feel the moment. The most important thing was to follow Almeida, but when Hindley went and Jonas followed, we knew he would go for the win."

However, the Vuelta was not perfect for Vingegaard and Visma | LaB. It lost Axel Zingle on day three, Victor Campenaerts withdrew due to sickness, and Vingegaard also struggled with his health in the second week. "We have to be honest: this wasn't Jonas’ best performance ever, but he was still the best rider in the Vuelta. He won three stages and deserves the overall victory."

Just like Vingegaard, who showed himself to be "wanting more" after his victory, Niermann would have liked to have won even more. “We should be very happy with this, but of course we also wanted to win on the Angliru. João was the strongest there, and we also wanted to win on the Morredero. But it's not a birthday party. Today he delivered again, and we are very happy with that.”

Vingegaard's victory comes just under two months after losing the Tour, where Tadej Pogacar was once again too strong. But with the Vuelta and the Giro in the bag, Visma | Lease a Bike has every reason to celebrate. “Richard Plugge told me that this is our ninth victory in a Grand Tour. That's a nice statistic. You always want to win the Tour; it's the biggest race in the world. But if you win the Giro and the Vuelta, you can also be quite happy.”