'Pogacar doesn't have to go to his limits' - 'GC Kuss' returns but Vuelta hierarchy is clear

The American’s pedigree told him he would be ready. Three years ago, after all, Kuss led a Jumbo-Visma sweep of the Vuelta podium after playing a key role in the team’s wins at both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France.

His numbers in the weeks since this year’s Tour were encouraging too, and that’s why Visma | Lease a Bike included him in its line-up here. But that was all theoretical until the first real mountains of the Vuelta.

Tadej Pogačar, inevitably, was in a league of his own in Andorra, soloing 50km to claim the stage and push his overall lead out beyond three minutes. But the race within a race for second place looks set to be a much tighter affair, and Kuss is firmly in the mix.

On a stage that took in his training roads in his adopted home of Andorra, Kuss broke even with men like Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM). The performance leaves him fourth overall, 3:44 behind the unassailable Pogačar but only 23 seconds off Roglič’s second place.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” Kuss told reporters in Roquetes on Wednesday. “I knew I felt good going into this race, but it’s all relative, I guess. I felt really good yesterday and hopefully I feel that good for the rest of the race.”

Kuss’ surprise Vuelta victory was followed by a season blighted by illness, and it ultimately didn’t change his status at Visma. He slotted back into the role of super domestique, and this season he was a key figure in Jonas Vingegaard’s Giro victory while helping himself to 13th overall and a stage win. 

At the Tour, Kuss was again deployed in a supporting role for Vingegaard, though he went close on successive finales at Alpe d’Huez after his leader had crashed out. This Vuelta could potentially see the return of ‘GC Kuss,’ even if the man himself struck a cautious note for now.

“For now, just try and maintain that spot and try and stay with the best guys, and see how it goes from there,” Kuss said.

The thought was echoed by Visma sports director Maarten Wynants. He was reluctant to bracket Kuss firmly as a podium contender just yet, even if he conceded that his Andorra’s display had offered evidence of his recovery from the Tour.

“Of course, training is training, and racing is the only proof that you’re able to compete and battle for the GC,” Wynants told Domestique, adding that the American’s role was a free one.

“It was a versatile role before the start, because if the GC was not on, then he could also go for stages. The advantage of him is that we can use him also to pull or something on a harder climb or something [for Matthew Brennan]. But for the moment, he is performing in GC, so let him do it, I would say, and then we’ll see further on.”

Even with more than two weeks still to race, however, Kuss knows that this Vuelta won’t end in a red jersey like in 2023. It all just comes too easily to Pogačar, who looked to be operating in cruise control when he conjured up his latest miracle in Andorra.

“I don’t think he has to go to his limits to get any advantage like you saw yesterday. I think it was a pretty standard training ride for him,” Kuss said.

“Felix Gall tried to follow him, and hats off to him. But you can see that if you follow him for too long, then you feel it the rest of the stage. For sure, it changes the dynamic and it’s a bit strange when you’re just racing against your immediate rivals for second. But no, I mean, he was untouchable.”