"Remco remains the major competitor" - Jumbo-Visma take over Vuelta a Espana but remain focused on their rival

The past two mountain stages of the Vuelta a Espana brought in big gains for Jumbo-Visma as they won at both Javalambre and Xorret de Catí, and into stage 9 of the race the Dutch team is now holding the red jersey but remains very focused on Remco Evenepoel.

“This was what we had as a plan for today. We wanted to control the course, because Primož wanted to go for it on the last climb," Grischa Niermann told Het Laatste Nieuws. "So we quickly made the call to help Groupama-FDJ, but that was not easy, because they were also riding fast at the front. In the end we managed to get them back. We make agreements in advance, but of course we always have to anticipate what happens in the race. We cannot discuss everything in advance, but we had reasonably predicted what happened in today's race."

The work proved effective, the breakaway of 30 riders was slowly brought back and it gave way to the GC riders to go for the stage win. The GC was at stake in the final ascent however, there Sepp Kuss went on the attack, but the team didn't take too many risks as Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard both remained in the wheel of the Belgian champion who rode at the pace he wanted.

At the finish line however Roglic took the victory, and Sepp Kuss avoided meaningful time losses to jump into the race lead, after Lenny Martínez was dropped earlier in the day. "All in all, we can be satisfied with Primoz winning and Sepp taking the red jersey.”

However despite having the lead and three riders in contention for victory, Niermann is far from relaxed when it comes to the overall classification, and remains just as aware that Remco Evenepoel remains a big danger: “Remco remains the major competitor, we have always said that and nothing has changed. Not even after a day when he loses thirty seconds. The Vuelta is still a long way off, we are in a good position, but we are still a long way from there.”