Sepp Kuss will head to the 2024 Vuelta a Espana in winning form after the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader secured a narrow overall victory at the Vuelta a Burgos as Pavel Bittner took the win on the final stage in Condado de Treviño after a thrilling finale.
With the talented trio of Patrick Gamper (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), Michael Leonard (INEOS Grenadiers) and Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) getting themselves into the day's breakaway, the racing was extremely fast and well ahead of schedule. Thankfully for Sepp Kuss, who started the day leading by just 5 seconds however, none were a threat in the general classification.
Heading into the final 30km, Oliveira had been replaced in the leading trio by Lidl-Trek's Pim Ronhaar, but ahead of the day's intermediate sprint, only Gamper and Leonard were left up ahead of the peloton, but only by around 1:15.
On the final climb of the day though, the gap began to drastically come down and a counter attacking move from the peloton, led by Victor Lafay and Davide Piganzoli managed to get clear separation and began hunting down the leaders. With 7km to go however, Leonard and Gamper still had 30 seconds lead on Lafay and Piganzoli, with the peloton a further 20 seconds back.
At 5km to go though, Lafay and Piganzoli were swallowed up by the peloton, with just 20 seconds separating the bunch and the leading duo. With the gap closing, Leonard launched the first attack from the front inside the final 3km but the Canadian couldn't get rid of Gamper.
In a thrilling finale, Gamper and Leonard were caught within the final few hundred metres, with Team dsm-firmenich PostNL's Pavel Bittner sprinting to the win ahead of Nicolo Parisini and Ivan Garcia Cortina respectively.
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