Sepp Kuss has experienced a very rough start to the Vuelta a Burgos, crashing and getting stitches in the nose, but he has turned his race around. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike climbed to victory at Lagunas de Neila and has become the new race leader.
The third stage of the Spanish race was, perhaps, the most important. Certainly, for the riders preparing for the Vuelta a España, it is a day to test the climbing legs on the race's sole summit finish atop Lagunas de Neila. Albeit shorter than usual, the climb still featured brutal gradients that could create differences. A few riders such as Nairo Quintana, Hugh Carthy and Antonio Tiberi found difficulties early on after the crashes that have affected the first days of the race (whilst others had already abandoned or still had the legs despite other injuries).
The breakaway of the day was formed by Jetse Bol, Nicolas Vinokourov, Alex Diaz and Germán Darío Gómez. Bol, rider of the home Burgos team, went solo in the penultimate climb of the day where the hard pace in the peloton put a few under difficulties including Quintana. With 23 kilometers to go everyone had been caught but the peloton was still numerous - also with riders regaining contact in the descent.
All was to play for in the final climb and specially the final 3 kilometers of the stage, averaging around 10%. Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe entered the ascent in front with a hard pace. With 2.4 kilometer Visma took over as Cian Uitjdebroeks launched an attack. Shortly after Victor Lafay picked it up and created a further selection. With 1.5 to go Sepp Kuss attacked but was joined by Caja Rural's Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda.
But the final kilometer was very steep and Kuss was the superior climber on the day. The American managed to ride away and still create a considerable buffer over his rival, Kuss took his first stage win of the year and climbed into the race lead. Lorenzo Fortunato put on a brilliant ride to catch up and sprint to second, with Cepeda climbing to third.
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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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- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
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