We would almost forget, but besides Landa, Visma | Lease a Bike and Kuss also suffered a heavy blow in the Vuelta

After the eighteenth stage of the Vuelta a España, the focus was mainly on Richard Carapaz's attack and Mikel Landa's time loss. However, Visma | Lease a Bike also fell victim to the aggressive riding of EF Education-EasyPost on Thursday. Sepp Kuss finished in the group with Landa, causing the top ten in the overall classification to slowly slip out of reach.

Kuss, who won the Vuelta last year, seemed to be in better form during the last mountain stages. He had been close to the top ten for some time, and it was only a matter of time before the American entered the top of the standings. However, on Thursday, Kuss finished 44th, ten minutes behind stage winner Urko Berrade and, more importantly, 3 minutes and 20 seconds behind the group of general classification contenders.

Landa and Kuss—who were also accompanied by riders like Adam Yates, Christián Rodriguez, and Guillaume Martin—suffered a blow in the overall standings. Landa dropped from fifth to tenth, and Kuss remained in twelfth place, but his gap to the tenth position has now increased to over four minutes. A setback for Visma | Lease a Bike, which, after the withdrawal of Wout van Aert, had put all its hopes in Kuss achieving a top-ten finish.

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Kuss had an 'off day,' says Visma | Lease a Bike

Team leader Grischa Niermann explains that Attila Valter, an early breakaway rider, dropped back to minimize the damage for the dropped Kuss. "Unfortunately, it turned out that Sepp had an off day. After today, he is still in twelfth place in the general classification, but the gap to the tenth place has widened. We will assess what is possible day by day in the final weekend. We can make many plans, but in the end, the legs have to be able to execute them," said the German in a press release.