📸 Gesink voluntarily commits to another "Sepp's Sufferfest Sunday": "Suffering for me, endurance ride for him"

Robert Gesink may have retired, but the love for cycling will never fade. And so, on Sunday, the Dutchman set out in good spirits on his bike in Andorra for a lap of almost 138 kilometers at 4,285 meters of elevation. Partner in crime: Sepp Kuss, who presented Gesink with a tough day.

"Sepp's Sufferfest Sunday," Gesink called his Strava upload at the end of the afternoon—a meaningful title after a grueling ride. "Suffering for me, easy endurance ride for him," it captioned with a laugh, not surprisingly, as the workout was finished at 265 watts average. The two teammates (at least for now) of Visma | Lease a Bike were on the bike for more than six hours.

Gesink set one personal record on familiar roads. Significantly, that was on a downhill segment. Uphill was grueling for the veteran on often unpaved roads. Kuss posted the same ride on Strava but did not give it an interesting title. However, he recorded 20 kilometers less than Gesink and about 800 meters in elevation. We suspect it will have been the difference in place of residence.

That Kuss is back on the bike with good legs in November is a nice boost for Visma | Lease a Bike and the American himself. After a brilliant 2023 - in which Kuss rode three grand tours and surprisingly won the Vuelta a España - 2024 was physically disappointing. He missed the Tour de France due to a coronavirus infection and never really showed his potential in the Vuelta. This was also true for his leader, Jonas Vingegaard, who finished second in the Tour despite a crash in the Basque Country. Visma | Lease a Bike already announced that it wants to strike back hard in 2025.

Strava upload Robert Gesink during training with Sepp Kuss

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