Here he is! A relieved Sepp Kuss shows his Vuelta form and gives Visma | Lease a Bike a very welcome boost

Sepp Kuss won the third stage of the Tour of Burgos. The rider from Visma | Lease a Bike was the best climber on the Lagunas de Neila and arrived solo at the finish of the final climb. Kuss is now the new leader of the race, as sprinter Caleb Ewan had to drop out early.

The day after the nasty crashes, the peloton faced a tough challenge. On Tuesday, there had already been significant climbing in Spain, but Wednesday’s stage was even more demanding. The riders had to tackle four climbs, including two first-category ones: the Alto de Rozavientos and the final climb to Lagunas de Neila. The finish was at over 1700 meters altitude, making a change in the general classification almost certain.

Breakaway with Bol and Vinokourov shapes early phase of the stage

Four riders broke away at the start of the stage. They were Dutch rider Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH), known for his many breakaway attempts in past Vueltas, Kazakh Nicolas Vinokourov (Astana Qazaqstan), German Gomez (Polti-Kometa), and Alex Diaz (Caja Rural). They built a maximum lead of three and a half minutes over the peloton. However, they were merely a prelude to the final phase of the race, where the general classification contenders took over.

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On the penultimate climb, Visma | Lease a Bike and DSM-Firmenich PostNL began to increase the pace, leading to a swift downfall of the breakaway group. The purple jersey wearer, Caleb Ewan, had to drop back. Jetse Bol was the last of the breakaway riders to hold out on the first of two long, challenging climbs. With 23 kilometers to go, his efforts came to an end, partly due to the relentless work of fellow Dutchman Robert Gesink. It was clear that the Dutch team had a plan, either with Sepp Kuss or Cian Uijtdebroeks.

Visma | Lease a Bike aims for victory on final climb, Kuss shows Vuelta form

A notable victim of Gesink’s solo effort? Antonio Tiberi! The Italian from Bahrain Victorious was clearly not in top Vuelta form and had to drop off in the final kilometer. He wasn’t the only one; the peloton quickly thinned out. Even the injured Nairo Quintana and Valentin Paret-Peintre had to abandon at this stage. As the final climb began, INEOS Grenadiers took the initiative, working at the front for Thymen Arensman.

However, it took a while for many riders to be dropped on the final climb. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe also put in a strong effort, but there were still about thirty riders left with three kilometers to go. When the steep final kilometers approached, Thymen Arensman surprisingly fell behind, and Cian Uijtdebroeks accelerated. Kuss followed his teammate and stayed in contention. Initially, Victor Lafay and Jefferson Cepeda made their moves, but another burst of speed from Kuss followed.

It had been a long time since we had seen Kuss accelerate like this, but he managed to do it. The remaining climbers were dropped, except for the tenacious Cepeda. In the final kilometer, Kuss’s pure climbing ability shone through, and the gap gradually widened. At the finish, after a challenging 2024 so far, Kuss was finally able to celebrate. The American crossed the line solo and will wear the leader’s jersey tomorrow. Cepeda finished third, with Lorenzo Fortunato making a late surge to take second place in the stage.

Results stage 3 Tour of Burgos 2024

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