Madrid, Sep 17 : Jumbo Visma rider Sepp Kuss virtually assured this year’s Vuelta a Espana title when he finished the 20th stage of the cycle race alongside his teammates Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic.
The Jumbo Visma team always had the stage under control and closed down any attacks from riders, such as Enric Mas (Movistar) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) during a demanding 208-kilometer stage, which took in 10 third category climbs between Manzanares del Real and Guadarrama to the north of Madrid, reports Xinhua.
The three Jumbo Visma riders celebrated as they crossed the line, knowing that Sunday’s final stage is a virtual ‘stroll’ of 105.8 kilometers into Madrid, which is destined to finish in a sprint finish.
Saturday’s stage means Jumbo will claim the first three places on the podium on Sunday, while also winning all three Grand Tours of the year, with Roglic triumphing in Italy, Vingegaard in the Tour de France and Kuss, who usually works as a ‘super-domestique’ for Roglic and Vingegaard riding to triumph in Spain.
Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) won the stage, as he and a group of four riders arrived at the finish over 10 minutes ahead of the main group.
Poels, along with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and Pelayo Sanchez (Burgos-BH) were the last survivors of a breakaway of 31 riders, who escaped from the peloton early in the stage.
Poels timed his final attack to perfection around 300 meters from the line and was just able to hold off a powerful sprint from Evenepoel, who was looking to claim his fourth stage of the race.
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