14/07/2023

"In such an explosive final you can't do much against Pogacar" - Sepp Kuss aware that little can be done against Tadej Pogacar

Jumbo-Visma raced defensively today at the Tour de France from start to finish, with the team and it's leaders following the wheels of UAE Team Emirates all the way into the final meters, but Sepp Kuss was not surprised by Tadej Pogacar taking some seconds in a brutal final acceleration.

"In such an explosive final you can't do much against Pogacar, so we have to be happy with where we are. We are leading this race, with the crucial stages coming up now," Sepp Kuss told NOS. “They rode a good pace and we thought that was fine. There was no reason for us to accelerate and we knew it would come down to the last kilometer."

PREVIEW | Tour de France 2023 stage 14 - 9 seconds separate Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard into brutal multiple-climb stage

The American was up to the task on the Grand Colombier, after UAE set up the finale for Adam Yates and Tadej Pogacar, Kuss chased down a move from Yates. The GC group then rode into the final 500 meters to go where Kuss could do nothing as the Slovenian attack, there Pogacar won four seconds on the road and four in bonifications to Jonas Vingegaard.

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"We might have been better off letting Yates go to take away the last bonuses, but we stayed together and then they went for it," Kuss says, however he reinstates that "we had everything under control." Ahead of stage 14, the American will be crucial once again to support Vingegaard. "It will be a different stage, with more longer climbs."

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The team saved a few riders on the final climb who were not necessary tactically and hope to succeed in the long run. Dylan van Baarle was up the in the Jura summit, he shares the idea that the losses suffered on the day are in the end not a game changer. "We can't complain about losing eight seconds, Pogacar is just super strong on such a short and explosive day. If Jonas then limits the damage to eight seconds, then we are happy with that," Dylan van Baarle added with the Dutch news outlet.

"The intention is to support Jonas as long as possible. I think Wilco [Kelderman] had a slightly lesser day, so I had to keep up a little longer. I saw him send out and then I thought: Shit, now I have to do it."