Sepp Kuss denied breakaway freedom as Visma plan is shut down at Vuelta

Sepp Kuss, Visma | Lease a Bike's general classification leader, could not stay with the top five overall on Friday's final climb to Peñas Blancas. That was hardly surprising, as the American — like the rest of his team — had spent a lot of energy in the frantic opening phase while trying to force their way into the day's breakaway.

Kuss began the stage 10:34 behind race leader Enric Mas. The Dutch team therefore hoped the 2023 Vuelta winner might be given enough freedom to join the breakaway and take back time in the general classification, while also putting himself in position to fight for the stage victory.

Earlier in the race, riders including Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Cristian Rodríguez (XDS Astana) and Clément Berthet (Groupama-FDJ) had been allowed to gain time from relatively strong positions in the standings. Former Vuelta winner Kuss, however, was not granted the same freedom despite now sitting more than ten minutes behind the red jersey.

Team leader Enric Mas also made clear after the stage that he had no intention of allowing Kuss to move up the road in the early breakaway. Once Visma's attempts had been shut down, the priority for Kuss and the team became getting safely through the rest of the day and turning their attention to the remaining opportunities.

“We got through the day well,” sports director Maarten Wynants said. “We did everything we could to get Sepp into the breakaway, but the top five in the general classification weren't willing to give him any room.”

“We're now focusing on the next two stages, where there is still plenty that can happen. Tomorrow, we'll try again with Sepp.”