On the finishing straight of the penultimate stage of this year’s Vuelta a España in Guadarrama, over ten minutes after Wout Poels outgunned Remco Evenepoel for the stage win, Juan Ayuso, Enric Mas, and Mikel Landa led home the remnants of the GC group, the final few aimless shots of a forlorn battle for fourth overall and the coveted title of best home rider.Ī hundred or so metres behind, the triumphant Jumbo-Visma trio of Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard, and Primož Roglič appear – laughing, chatting, and soaking in another job expertly executed – before finally linking arms as they crossed the line together for a moment and an image heavily laden with symbolism.įor starters, the teammates’ shared celebration brought a definitive, and rather fitting, end to Jumbo-Visma’s amateur theatre group rendition of La Vie Claire’s 1986 Tour de France, during which internal tensions within the squad, and the individual, ruthless ambitions of seasoned grand tour winners Vingegaard and Roglič, threatened to scupper loyal domestique Kuss’s moment in the bright Spanish sun.Ī few PR wobbles, questionable tactics, and days of social media hysteria aside, the ever-amiable American eventually emerged unscathed through the Angliru fog of civil war, the first man from his country to win one of cycling’s big three-weekers since the rather less universally appreciated Chris Horner back in 2013.
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