Freed from domestique duties, with his teammate Jonas Vingegaard at home with a broken collarbone, Sepp Kuss sensed glory on Alpe d’Huez.
It’s been five years since the sport’s favourite helper won a stage of the Tour de France, and there was no better place to finally win in the Tour again than atop the mythical Alpe, the climb every single cyclist, amateur or pro, dreams of being triumphant on.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Kuss did everything right at the start. He was part of the huge 42-man breakaway, and was present when that group was whittled down to 15 on the penultimate climb. At the bottom of the iconic Alpe, only six remained, and one of them was Kuss.
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Before long, there were only three: Kuss, stage 18 winner Richard Carapaz, and the best French-placed rider in the race: Lenny Martinez. Either of them could win.
Neither of them would.
The trio all attacked one another, but it was in vain: with 3km remaining, Tadej Pogačar, he who spoils so many dreams, passed them all and rode to his fifth stage victory in the race. Martinez held on for second, Carapaz third, but Kuss drifted back to fourth.
If it seemed inevitable that Pogačar would win, and in doing so smash Marco Pantani’s record, Kuss believed that the break had a chance of resisting the race leader. But their advantage to the yellow jersey at the foot of the Alpe wasn’t big enough.
“I knew he [Pogačar] would probably go from the bottom so with that you probably need six minutes or something,” Kuss said.
“We had a good selection at the bottom, but when I saw the gap at the bottom, I knew it would be tight. It was a bit stop-start riding, a lot of attacking.
“It was just everyone on their own, nobody wanted to commit fully. It’s still a climb where you get quite a bit of drafting, so it was pretty tactical at the end.
“I just tried to ride my own rhythm. I’m not as explosive as those other guys, but I’m happy with the ride. I tried to keep it steady, but it’s hard. There are all the moments when you think, ‘Now I want to go with speed, or go when they’re finished with their effort’. Then you get another narrow part. So it’s hard to time it.”
Despite not pulling off the win, Kuss was content with how he performed. ”I’m happy with the ride. I feel good,” the American said.
The Tour returns to the Alpe tomorrow. One more chance for a Kuss victory.
