"Now the problem that will arise is which of the three will win?" - Cyrille Guimard previews Jumbo-Visma's internal battle for Vuelta title

With the 2023 Vuelta a Espana having reached its second rest day, Jumbo-Visma seemingly have the Red Jersey all sewn up. The question that remains is which one of Sepp Kuss, Primoz Roglic or Jonas Vingegaard will emerge victorious.

"They put two riders who have already won Grand Tours at the start and they have with them, Sepp Kuss, who is perhaps even the best pure climber," praises Cyrille Guimard in his Vuelta a Espana rest day column for Cyclism'Actu. "They also find themselves in the first three places because of Remco Evenepoel's failure. We have a classification which is correct in relation to the potential of each rider. Now the problem that will arise is which of the three will win?"

Sepp Kuss is the man currently holding the Red Jersey and has been ever since stage 6. "1'37 " ahead of Primoz Roglic, 1'44" over Jonas Vingegaard and behind Juan Ayuso is already 2'37". So the tactic is relatively simple, apart from Kuss' failure, I don't see Roglic or Vingegaard attacking him," previews Guimard. "When we have the first three places, we are not going to take the risk of losing them, the first rule is to be sure."

Is there any chance for the rest of the challengers to break the Jumbo-Visma dominance? Guimard doesn't believe so. "The objective of Enric Mas, Juan Ayuso... is 3rd place. There may be a fall, an illness or something else, but it won't happen to all three. I find it hard to imagine, there is nothing to do against the three," he explains. "Logically, if there is no failure of the first three, it must remain as it is. So 1 Sepp Kuss, 2 Primoz Roglic, 3 Jonas Vingegaard."