Ten Years After

Goin' home, my baby
Goin' home, my baby
Goin' home, to see my baby

 Sepp Kuss broke a 10-year drought at the Tour de France, becoming the first American in a decade to win a stage, holding off Alejandro Valverde to triumph in his adopted home of Andorra. Kuss, yet another racer out of that talent hotbed of Durango, Colorado, has been a key player in the high mountains over the past four-years, acting as a reliable soldier for the ambitions of his Jumbo-Visma leader Primoz Roglič. His team has been in a bit of a quandary since Roglič’s abandon, their clear mission muddied, and now that they are down to five riders, two of whom have their own considerable personal ambitions – third overall Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert who wants to win anything in front of him – the management of such a small team vs such large goals must be difficult. The team executed a tactical plan on yesterday’s Stage 15, on the 193.3-kilometer race from Cèret to Andorra la Vella, the first real day in the Pyrenees complete with six mountain passes, one that had many observers left scratching their heads.

 American Neilson Powless of EF Education launched a 34-man group that included a who’s who of the Tour, Valverde, Julian Alaphilippe and Nairo Quintana to name a few, all of whom were far down in the general classification thus no danger to the Yellow Jersey of Tadej Pogačar. In that front group were three of the five remaining Jumbo-Visma, Kuss, van Aert and climber Steven Kruijswijk. Their podium hope Vingegaard was left with only one teammate, the sprinter Mike Teunissen who could only be of marginal help in the high mountains. The team risked big on this one, an untimely puncture or opened gap could have left the young Dane isolated and in danger of losing his podium spot.

 In front, Wout van Aert began to contest the mountain points and a tremendous fight for Polka Dot broke out between the Belgian, Nairo Quintana, Mike Woods – in Polka Dot on the day – and Wout Poels. Quintana went solo to claim the famed Port d’Envalira which at 2,408 meters was the highest point of the Tour and as such is the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, named for the first organizer of the Tour. It is an important prize for the Colombian and revered as the high climbs are in his home country, the conquest will have reverberated with the public there adding to his legend. Quintana is riding like a seasoned pro, there’s a bit of cynicism in his style now as he’s carefully marshaling his forces and using them sparingly for only the most effective and self-promotional moments of the race. In the end, Wout Poels holds the Polka Dot with 74 points, Michael Woods drops to second with 66 followed by Quintana and van Aert tied at 64. This fight will stimulate the action for the rest of the Tour.

 Kuss seized his chance on the final climb before the descent into Andorra. He’s seemed easy all day, and when he attacked on the Col du Beixalis only Valverde could even try to join, but the 20” gap Kuss opened on the Spaniard would never be closed and the American rode home to a most prestigious victory. Sepp Kuss has always seemed somewhat lacking in personal ambition, happy to be a teammate deluxe, always modest in his responses to the media. I’m hoping that now, with this clear result, this proof of his abilities, that the monster within – because it must be there for him to win like that – emerges more often, that he learns to bang his fist on the table when needed and fight more for his personal gain. Like Wout van Aert does, who is riding to see if he can in fact try and win the Tour one day.

 Behind, the Yellow Jersey was dominant, that his team has melted away seemed not to bother him a bit, just as it didn’t in the wind battles of previous days when he’d simply put himself in the front echelons with seemingly little effort. Teams tried, the Ineos set up their mountain train on the Envalira which didn’t do a thing except to get Geraint Thomas dropped. Rigoberto Uran tried one of his slo-mo attacks which couldn’t work, others too but Pogačar, with more than five-minutes lead over second, smoothly controlled his rivals who are now even stating publicly that they are racing for the remaining podium spots and top 10’s. There are five of them within a minute of one another for those spots,  the Mountains prize is very much in play, so the action this final week will continue to be fierce.

 Quick update on my fav French team, AG2R Citröen: Ben O’Connor (winner stage 9 into Tignes) rode extremely well, was unafraid to attack and still sitting 5th overall. He’s not a bad time trial rider and is in with a chance for the podium. Aurélien Paret-Peintre, 10th on the stage, is the son of the president of the famed Velo Club Annemasse from my old stomping grounds of Haute Savioe. Makes me happy to see them doing so well.