“I had goosebumps all day” - Sepp Kuss hails Team Visma | Lease a Bike masterplan as audacious Vuelta raid secures last-gasp top-5 GC finish

Sepp Kuss paid tribute to Team Visma | Lease a Bike after an audacious queen-stage operation carried the American from 11th to fifth overall at the 2026 Vuelta a Espana.

The former Vuelta winner attacked repeatedly during stage 20 and received assistance from team-mates positioned throughout the fragmented race. Kuss began the day outside the top 10 but finished it ahead of Oscar Onley, Jakob Omrzel, Clement Berthet, Cristian Rodriguez, Mattias Skjelmose and Harold Tejada.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike began assembling the pieces of its plan from the opening kilometres. Wout van Aert attacked immediately and made the eventual breakaway, while Matthew Brennan, Jorgen Nordhagen and Steven Kruijswijk were among the riders positioned further up the road when the race split into several large groups.

Kuss made his first move on the opening ascent of the Puerto de El Purche with almost 100 kilometres remaining. Richard Carapaz later bridged across, but Felix Gall drove the reduced red jersey group back to both attackers shortly before the summit.

Kuss tried again when the race returned to El Purche. No immediate response followed and the American established a lasting advantage, collecting help from team-mates as they dropped back from the groups ahead. “Hats off to the team. We had a plan, and it was just like the stars aligning in every moment of the race,” Kuss said on TNT Sports afterwards. “Every guy on the team had a part in it. That’s how we race as a team. That’s our identity. It’s amazing being part of it.”

Brennan and Kruijswijk contributed during the middle section of the stage before Kuss linked up with Van Aert and Nordhagen ahead of the Collado del Alguacil. Van Aert had already spent much of the day collecting mountains points and mathematically securing the green jersey at the intermediate sprint. He then used his remaining energy to drive Kuss towards the decisive final ascent.

Kuss reached the Collado del Alguacil several minutes ahead of Enric Mas, Primoz Roglic, Felix Gall and Carapaz. Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe reduced part of his advantage after Finn Fisher-Black began working for Roglic, but Kuss had already created enough separation to overhaul six riders in the general classification.

“I had goosebumps all day,” he admitted. “It’s just fun to go out and race. I’ve not been able to race like I wanted for most of the time. It was a playground out there with all those steep climbs.”

Kuss completed the stage fifth overall at 8:45 from Mas. He now leads Onley by 43 seconds, while fourth-placed Carapaz remains 1:51 ahead of him.

The improvement came during Kuss’s third Grand Tour of the season and on the final mountain stage of the Vuelta. After spending much of the race outside the central general classification contest, his repeated attacks produced one of the largest positional gains made by any contender on the queen stage.

Only the 112-kilometre final stage in Granada remains, with Kuss carrying that 43-second advantage over Onley into the race’s flat closing day.