"It is still a nice lead, but a minute is also wasted" - Sepp Kuss on Vuelta lead defense at time-trial

Sepp Kuss was set to lose time in the Vuelta a Espana time-trial. It was inevitable, however the American managed to limit the losses quite a lot and remains in the lead of the Spanish race.

“Surprisingly, I felt very relaxed. It is still only stage ten and there is still a lot to come in this Vuelta. I'm just happy that I could start the time trial in the red jersey. And that for the first time I have not been overtaken,” Kuss laughed in a post-race interview. “I just tried to keep it simple today, enjoy the time trial and pedal as hard as I could. I also didn't know if I was doing the right thing along the way. I had no idea."

Kuss' time was faster than other riders who are contesting the top of the overall classification, such as Enric Mas, Lenny Martínez and Mikel Landa. He lost only 1:13 minutes to Remco Evenepoel who was the first out of the GC favourites and was 13th on the day. It was a great time which saw him defend the red jersey against Marc Soler, and also keep a gap of over a minute over third place Remco Evenepoel.

"Every time I passed an intermediate point, Addy (Addy Engels, ed.) said good job. My first thought was: hmm, maybe I'm not doing so well after all. I had no reference material, but I felt good and am happy with my time trial," he admits.

Into stage 11 there is another summit finish, before the riders arrive at the Pyrenees. There the race will change. “It is still a nice lead, but a minute is also wasted. There are still some very tough and beautiful stages to come. We will see," he concluded.