La Vuelta 2023: Stage 10:- Valladolid to Valladolid, 25.8km ITT ***Spoilers***
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What's Kuss been doing outside GTs? I remember an interview with Adam Hansen where he said because he did 3 GTs a year he didn't do much else, which meant he cut down a lot of travel, got his rest in bulk etc. Aside from the actual grind of daily GT racing, the outside stuff was far easier for him.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0
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Only 2 other races UAE tour and Volta CatalunyaNo_Ta_Doctor said:What's Kuss been doing outside GTs? I remember an interview with Adam Hansen where he said because he did 3 GTs a year he didn't do much else, which meant he cut down a lot of travel, got his rest in bulk etc. Aside from the actual grind of daily GT racing, the outside stuff was far easier for him.
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OK. So he was the third man on the limited number of days where he was the third man. Makes sense!blazing_saddles said:
On the first mountain stage to Laruns, on the final climb, who dropped everybody and isolated Pogacar, before Vingegaard dropped Pogacar? A 3 man group.wallace_and_gromit said:
Obviously as we're talking about pro cycling it pays to be suspicious, but in the Tour, Kuss was regularly shipping 2-3 minutes to Vingo on the key stages. (Not sure where you get your "third man" concept from. I assume it is rhetorical rather than factual.) That's the difference between going flat out and at 95% on the final climb, which is huge in terms of cumulative fatigue and recovery.blazing_saddles said:
By riding within himself, do you mean being the third man on a climb along with Vingegaard and Pogacar?mididoctors said:
He is strong rider who rides with in him self most days unless needed for a specific taskblazing_saddles said:andyp said:
He was at his peak at the Tour. He's not now. Winning the Tour and the Vuelta in the same season is hard, and has only been done once before.twotoebenny said:Only a few weeks ago I was watching JV put ~4 mins into Rodriguez and Castroviejo in Combloux, also hammering some top TT guys including Pogacar… what happened today?
So how do you explain Kuss?andyp said:
He was at his peak at the Tour. He's not now. Winning the Tour and the Vuelta in the same season is hard, and has only been done once before.twotoebenny said:Only a few weeks ago I was watching JV put ~4 mins into Rodriguez and Castroviejo in Combloux, also hammering some top TT guys including Pogacar… what happened today?
He was comfortably inside the top 10 of the Tour until the final road stage, then dropped a shed load of time just prior to Paris.
He was rolling in a minute behind his team leader during that final, awful week of the Giro and finished 6th in the ITT. He finished both those GTs inside the top 15. Not bad for a domestique, however deluxe he is.
This is his 3rd GT, now appears to be peaking and unless his form varnishes in the 3rd week, should not be beaten.
If so, I agree.
Kuss finished that stage on the ST as the Slovenian.
Who repeated the process on the Tourmalet, the following day, again isolating Pogacar? Another 3 man group. However, Kuss did ship 3 minutes that day.....along with Gall, both Yates and Gaudu.
Hence the third man reference.
I'm as suspicious as the next man about cycling. I've been following since it started being shown on Channel 4 and was laughing whilst lots of others were supping the KoolAid on the climb to Sestriere in 1999. But the physiological difference between going absolutely all in, as one has to as a GC rider and doing what is needed as part of a team of mountain "enforcers" is non-trivial, so it's not unreasonable that Kuss is able to step it up now, particularly as he's likely now getting more of whatever JV give Vingo for breakfast during the Tour.
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In how may of those GTs did Hansen contest for the win?No_Ta_Doctor said:What's Kuss been doing outside GTs? I remember an interview with Adam Hansen where he said because he did 3 GTs a year he didn't do much else, which meant he cut down a lot of travel, got his rest in bulk etc. Aside from the actual grind of daily GT racing, the outside stuff was far easier for him.
How many riders have won the final GT of a season having already ridden the other two?0 -
It’s actually quite interesting to have a quick look at other main protagonists.No_Ta_Doctor said:What's Kuss been doing outside GTs? I remember an interview with Adam Hansen where he said because he did 3 GTs a year he didn't do much else, which meant he cut down a lot of travel, got his rest in bulk etc. Aside from the actual grind of daily GT racing, the outside stuff was far easier for him.
At first glance, Kuss appears to have ridden a light program: 66 days so far.
Then you look at the others.
Vingegaard 61
Evenepoel 54
Roglic 50
All beaten by Van Aert, who just had 45 days of competition."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Sastre might be indicative, as he rode at least two GTs pretty much every year of his career (and they were never the Giro and Vuelta), with a couple of those years seeing him do all three. He came 43rd, 3rd, and 4th in 2006, and then 8th, 18th, and 7th in 2010. Obviously, if Kuss won the Vuelta he'd surpass both of those, having already finished 14th and 12th in the Giro and Tour this year.0
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That's an impressively low figure by Wout. I'm surprised that Pog's injury ravaged season has somehow 44 race days.
I guess he was injured at a time when he'd ordinarily not be competing much.================================
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