Sepp Kuss on Ben O'Connor's Vuelta a Espana raid: "He didn’t get the win handed to him; he truly earned it"
Cycling
Team Visma | Lease a Bike are aiming for a top result at the Vuelta a España and today they have gained a big rival. Ben O'Connor looked to be in serious trouble at Pico Villuercas, however during stage 6 he was part of the breakaway and took many minutes on the whole peloton; a gap that Sepp Kuss will certainly struggle to recover, if that is even possible.
“It was a real battle to get into the breakaway today,” Kuss said in a post-race interview. “The opening phase was particularly tough. The pace was high, and it was once again quite warm. Eventually, a group of thirteen riders got away after an earlier group was reeled back in. The course was very technical, with several tricky moments here and there."
The truth is Kuss should be rather satisfied with the outcome of the day, taking into consideration that a crash saw Adam Yates lose significant time and that both his compatriots Brandon McNulty and Matthew Riccitello fell out of GC contention despite it being a seemingly non-complicated day for the main climbers. There were traps, and Visma survived them. Kuss descended from 13th to 15th but this is largely due to the presence of other riders who were in the breakaway and shouldn't remain ahead of the defending champion.
But O'Connor, the new red jersey, is on a league of his own when it comes to the riders who made a difference today. Kuss was not ashamed to admit that the Australian rider really put in an impressive ride to take the win: "Ben rode exceptionally well today. He didn’t get the win handed to him; he truly earned it.”
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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- Ernesto Maggioni - The president of the commissaires Mafia. It is getting evident that this guy is basically "Iamalwaysrightandyouarestupidsoiwontlistentoyou" kind of guy. So fire him so that he can be always right in his homeabstractengineer10-11-2026
- Somehow it has got into his mind that he is a GC rider. He is primarily a classics and stage rider who can perform on GC given his day. As a result he is wasting his time on TDF GC and once committed to GC you are too tired to do anything else.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
- This is such a black eye to women's professional cyclocross if this result remains. Marie Schreiber won this race fairly. This finish is not unlike others in cyclocross. Lots of moving around to get to the finish not to cut anyone off , but to generate a sprint on soft wide tires caked with mud and sand. This is not nearly the same as a road race between two riders sprinting to the finish on faster bikes and thinner firmer tires. The powers in charge need to use some common sense, reverse this result and remember this is Cyclocross not Road racing. Unbelievable. . .Zencycle09-11-2026
- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026 - McNulty winning was beneficial in ensuring the rainbow jersey would not remain winless
Front24209-11-2026 - Eccelente! That's 7 riders in total in Red Bull who come from the devo team, 8 if you include Lipo
Rafionain-Glas09-11-2026 - again, nothing is going to be resolved. it is a discussion board. I simply said I didn't see how MS impeded LBs sprint. the UCI doesn't care about my thoughts, and I am really not that emotionally invested in it.mij09-11-2026
- provoke change, lol. this is a discussion board. nothing is going to change by what I say here. just commenting that it didn't look like MS impeded Brand. beyond that not trying to go too deep.mij09-11-2026
- as excellent as maga rednecks chloe dygert (and quinn simmons)?Ketterechts09-11-2026
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