Johan Bruyneel: "I still believe that Sepp Kuss is going to win this Vuelta a España"

As every day after a great stage of the Vuelta a España, Johan Bruyneel analyzed what happened on Lance Armstrong's Youtube podcast 'The Move'. This time it was time to talk about stage 16, in which Jonas Vingegaard attacked at the finish in Bejes and ended up taking the win. Primoz Roglic also attacked and Sepp Kuss lost seconds to his two rivals for the red and teammates in Jumbo-Visma. The former US Postal sport director understood Vingegaard's move, though less so Roglic's.

"I don't think Vingegaard's move was smart, but it seems there are no more gifts or more speeches in their cycling, when they have an opportunity to go for the win you do it and that's what happened and I think when Jumbo-Visma came with their 3 riders on the skirts of the final climb they knew one of them was going to win, we can't blame them for that," Bruyneel explained.

The Belgian thinks the Jumbos are riding individually: "Jonas Vingegaard's attack was more or less the same as what happened on the Tourmalet. I thought maybe Kuss wasn't feeling very well, but when one of your teammates is not feeling well what you don't do is attack to show their weaknesses. So I think what they are doing is deciding for themselves and they are going off to see if the stronger one can win."

So Bruyneel understands Vingegaard's attack, but not UAE Team Emirates' reaction: "I understand what Jumbo did, but not what UAE did, Vingegaard, the third, attacked and put the pressure on other teams, especially UAE, but what we saw was Fisher Black trying to follow him, not João Almeida, who accelerated once, or Marc Soler, who did nothing. I think at least 40 seconds of what Vingegaard got out of the total minute is because in the less hard zone where he attacked the guys behind looked at each other and didn't do anything."

He did not understand Primoz Roglic's attack and still believes that Sepp Kuss is the favorite to win the Vuelta a España despite barely half a minute ahead of Vingegaard before the Alto de l'Angliru:

"What I didn't understand was Primoz Roglic's counterattack, unless he thought he was going to leave them all, but he didn't, he went 10 meters and stopped seeing that Enric Mas and Juan Ayuso stuck to his wheel and Sepp Kuss showed weaknesses. I think it was strange to see. I think the initial plan is that the stage was perfect for Primoz, but when Vingegaard attacked and took the 40 seconds the Slovenian thought he could still win and went away and then he saw he didn't have the legs to do it.

"If you look at the final result, it was a great move for Jumbo-Visma, because you have Sepp Kuss still in the lead with the same advantage and you have Jonas Vingegaard with a minute more advantage over Juan Ayuso and Enric Mas."

"I still believe that Sepp Kuss is going to win this Vuelta a España. Yesterday's stage didn't suit his characteristics, I think today's stage is much better for him."