"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."

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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.

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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.

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