"We can't really be surprised by Tadej" - Sepp Kuss knows Visma battle almost invincible rival

Sepp Kuss has returned to good form after a very complicated 2024 and he has so far been putting in strong performance in the mountains of the Tour de France, but Team Visma | Lease a Bike's tactics have not worked thus far in taking time on Tadej Pogacar. The American knows that the Dutch team is facing the hardest rival in the sport.

"We can't really be surprised by Tadej [Pogacar]. Obviously, we hoped it would be closer, but when you look back at the footage and see how fast he was climbing, opening up a gap, it makes sense on such a difficult climb," Kuss told Cyclism'Actu regarding stage 12, where he paced up the Col du Soulor, destroying the peloton. "We just hope that in the coming days, everyone will have a better feeling, and we'll see what we can do".

On the mountain time-trial the differences weren't as big, but the Dane did still shed over half a minute which has been added to the large gap that had been previously built. "Four minutes? That's clearly a big gap, so if you just look at it on paper, you could say it's over. But that's cycling, anything can happen. We saw Pogacar crash right after the rest day. You can find yourself trapped behind a break, have a bad moment… anything can happen," Kuss warns. 

But it's easy to forget that only two mountain stages have been tackled, whilst all of the most difficult days are still ahead and the Tour has been raced at full speed right from day 1 and fatigue could become a huge factor in the final week or even in the coming days.

"There are still the toughest stages left. We just have to focus on what we can control, and seize opportunities when they present themselves. Yesterday, we rode at the pace we wanted to impose. The idea was to isolate Pogacar from the Soulor. If we had all been having a great day, I think we could have done some damage at that point. But we had to adjust the strategy a little, which is not a problem," he explains, referring to Matteo Jorgenson's moment of difficulty on the climb.

Tactic wise however, Kuss believes Visma is racing the Tour as it should. "When we make our moves in the race, these are moments when the effort is fair for everyone. We don't pull the peloton for 200 kilometers. Of course, you have to give it your all, but you use the right riders at the right time. Very often, it hurts more to be in 6th position than to be in 1st or 2nd when we launch the attack. So I think we manage it rather intelligently".