Visma | Lease a Bike draws harsh but fair conclusion after Kuss and co once again fail to impress in the Vuelta a España

For Visma | Lease a Bike, the 20th stage in the Vuelta a España was one to forget quickly. After all, the killer bees did not appear on the stage won by Eddie Dunbar. Seven minutes behind that winner, Sepp Kuss was the best-placed man, but that was good for just a 25th place...

"We had the plan to go for the stage win," team manager Grischa Niermann responded in a post on the team website. "That could have been possible either through the breakaway or with a strong Sepp. But unfortunately, we have to admit that we weren't good enough today."

Last team meeting for Gesink

"Sepp unfortunately had to drop out of the role on the second-to-last climb. It is what it is for now," sounded the rather harsh conclusion. "The guys did fight for it and did what they could. We simply weren't good enough to compete."

Yet, it was also a special day for the yellow-black formation since, for Robert Gesink, it was his very last ride in line in his pro career. The Condor of Varsseveld stops cycling after the Vuelta a España.

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Black Saturday for Visma | Lease a Bike: women's team also unable to compete for prizes

And another little side note: the Visma | LaB women's team did not have the best Saturday either, as the ladies did not compete for any prizes in the Tour of Romandy either. "In the tough final climb to Vercorin, the riders of the yellow-black formation soon had to drop out of the depleted peloton," it sounded honest in a comment published on the team website.

"That we could not compete for the win today, I already expected," team manager Jos van Emden responded in the same communiqué. "We knew that today would be a challenging stage for us. Unfortunately, we couldn't compete for prizes in this strong field. Still, as a team, we must always show ourselves in stages."