16/09/2023

"The last mountain top finish in the Tour that I won, Froomey was allowed to attack me! What's with that?" - Geraint Thomas empathises with Sepp Kuss as he recalls his own experiences of being attacked by a teammate

Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard finally relented their attacks on stage 18 as a cease-fire was called and Sepp Kuss' Vuelta a Espana victory all but officially confirmed. Although Vingegaard seemed delighted afterwards, Roglic was rather more frosty.

"I have my own thoughts about that, but I will do everything I can to keep the situation as it is now," Roglic said post-stage 18, admitting it was difficult for him, after having prepared and expected to be the team leader. Now, on his Watts Occurring podcast alongside Luke Rowe, Roglic's Giro d'Italia rival, Geraint Thomas has given his view on the whole situation.

"I have my own thoughts about that, but I will do everything I can to keep the situation as it is now" - Primoz Roglic has mixed feelings about "GC Kuss hype-train"

"I'd say Jonas has more to achieve. As in, by winning the Vuelta he would get more from it than Primoz winning a fourth," the Welsh leader of the INEOS Grenadiers says. "Let's be honest, no one really cares if you win 3, 4 or 5 Vueltas. Spain's for holidays mate not for riding a bike, we've been through this!"

"The other thing was he continued to ride," Thomas continues, referencing stage 17 where both Roglic and Vingegaard rode away from Kuss. "Maybe he was hoping to drop Jonas as well? But he got nothing out of that. He would have won the stage if he'd backed off 10 watts, let Sepp stay in the wheel."

"I feel Kuss deserves a bit more respect" - Geraint Thomas weighs in on Jumbo-Visma's Vuelta leadership debate

Thomas himself was once viewed similarly as Kuss, having spent many years as a super domestique for Chris Froome before the Welshman won the Tour de France in his own right.

"The last mountain top finish in the Tour that I won, Froomey was allowed to attack me! What's with that?" Thomas recalls. "The only reason it happened though was because it was like stage 18 or something and I knew if I had to respond I could and I would. There's no way I was going to let him win that, no way I was going to let him ride up the road and I was the 'understudy' so to speak, I committed everything to him and he was still full gas to try and win that."