Vuelta a España stage 15: American Sepp Kuss takes stunning solo victory, Primoz Roglic retains lead

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) launched a long-range move on the final climb of the day to power to victory at the Vuelta a España on Sunday.

The Coloradan rider attacked with seven kilometers to go after being in the breakaway that formed early in the day. He held off a chase from Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos), who finished second and third respectively, 39 seconds back.

After taking an dominating win at the Tour of Utah in 2018 but having a disappointing performance in the Giro d’Italia this May, the powerful stage victory is an impressive breakthrough for the youngster.

“It’s pretty big I guess,” said Kuss of his first grand tour stage win. “It hasn’t quite sunk in. It was a pretty incredible stage.”

Kuss’s American teammate Neilson Powless said: “Sepp’s a buddy of mine, and we knew he was climbing well, and I’m so stoked he got an opportunity today because he really deserves it. We are all committed to doing all we can to help Primoz [Roglic] win this race, but at the same time the team gave him the freedom and he was able to capitalize on it and ran away with it.”

Further down the finishing climb of the Puerto del Acebo, the GC group blew apart, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) coming to the line together, 2:14 down on the winner. Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates) and Miguel Ángel López (Astana) came in as a pair, 41 seconds behind them.

The loser from the GC contenders was Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who was dropped midway up the climb and shipped over 90 seconds to Roglic and Valverde, who extend their lead in the top two steps of the podium.

Roglic’s lead over Valverde remains at 2:25, but the Slovenian has extended his gap to countryman Pogacar to 3:42, Lopez to 3:59, and Quintana to 5:09. Rafal Majka (Bora Hansgrohe) retains his sixth spot on GC at 7:14.

The 155km stage featured four category 1 climbs, including a summit finish grind up the Puerto del Acebo, a tough 8km climb averaging 9.7 percent gradient, but featuring several pitches far steeper.

Kuss got himself into a 15-man break that established itself on the second climb of the day, which also included Marc Soler (Movistar Team), Ion Izagirre (Astana Pro Team), and American Lawson Craddock (EF-Education First).

By the time the race was hitting the lower slopes of the third climb of the day, with 60km of the stage to go, the break was together still with over three minutes advantage, and by the base of the final ascent of the day, they had nearly five minutes on the GC group.

The break splintered on the approach to the final climb, with Vasil Kiryienka (Ineos) and Sergio Sametier (Euskadi-Basque Country) going off the front. Kuss attacked with seven 7km to go and rode through both Kiryienka and Sametier, and with 5km to go, had grown a gap of 30 seconds over Geoghegan Hart and Guerreiro, who chased together as a pair, having also been in the day’s break.

The American continued to ride strong through the steep final pitch of the climb, extending his gap on the two chasers. As he entered the final straight, he had the time to enjoy his first grand tour win, high-fiving the crowd in the final straight, winning by 39 seconds.

“That’s what makes the Vuelta so special, the passion and being so close to the fans,” said Kuss. “Also on your bad days, when you’re 30 minutes behind the winner, they’re still cheering you and supporting you.”

Behind Kuss and the breakaway, the peloton came into the steep slopes of the final climb together after Jumbo-Visma had set the pace all day, with Tony Martin doing the majority of the work. The steep opening gradients soon lined out the group, with all the GC contenders coming to the front. Valverde was the first to attack with 6km to go, with Roglic jumping straight on his wheel. Behind them, none of their GC rivals attempted to chase.

With Roglic and Valverde working together well, they distanced the chase group of Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Pogcar, Quintana, Lopez, and Majka. Quintana didn’t last long as the Astana pair set the tempo in the chase, and dropped off the back with 4km to go.

Lopez and Pogacar eventually went clear of their group, and rather than working together to chase down Roglic and Valverde, started attacking each other as they fought for third place on the GC. The red jersey and his rival continued working well all the way to the line, and finished together, 41 seconds up on Lopez and Pogacar, who also came in as a pair.

“Roglic and I had a bit of an understanding, and we worked together,” said Valverde after the stage. “Taking 40 seconds [on Lopez and Pogacar] is important and those are a good 40 seconds.”

Valverde now has a 1:17 buffer on third place Pogacar.

“It was a nice day for the team,” said Roglic, when asked about Kuss’s win and his GC position. “We can again be happy, but there are some really hard days to come, so we still need to be focussed.”

Kuss will be offered the chance to show what makes him one of the most promising American riders of his generation on Monday’s stage, which is another super-hard mountain test with a long grinding summit finish that is certainly one of the hard days Roglic is conscious of.