Pico del Buitre. Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre, Thursday, August 31st 2023
An outstanding stage 6 of La Vuelta delivered historic results at the Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre. The American climber Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), participating in his third Grand Tour of the year, was the strongest from an impressive breakaway to take victory ahead of Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ). The French wonderkid becomes the overall leader at 20 years old! Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) ganged up against Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) to gain 30 seconds on the Belgian star. La Vuelta 23 started less than a week ago and the GC battle is already in full swing!
After two sprints dominated by Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), La Vuelta 23 heads back to the mountain with a summit finish at the Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre, atop the cat-1 ascent of the Pico del Buitre (10.9km at 8%). With a prestigious stage win to claim, and potentially La Roja on the line, attackers are very much inspired.
An impressive battle towards Javalambre
It takes 70 kilometres of extremely hard battle for a group of 42 attackers to eventually make the break, including 11 riders from the GC top 25: Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Steff Cras (Total Energies), Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), David De La Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan), Rémy Rochas (Cofidis), Juanpe Lopez (Lidl-Trek), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Attila Valter (Jumbo-Visma). Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny), already a stage winner in Barcelona, is also up there.
Soudal Quick-Step, Ineos Grenadiers and Movistar work together to control the break. The gap goes as high as 7 minutes. It quickly drops down towards the main ascent of the day… But at the bottom of the climb to the Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre, an already seriously reduced peloton still trails by 3’50’’.
Kuss, Martinez, Roglic… What a showdown!
Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ) sets the pace at the front for Martinez. Einer Rubio (Movistar) attacks with 4 kilometres to go. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich) and Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) are the quickest to react but Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) gets back to them and goes solo inside the last 3 kilometres. At the summit, he wins 26’’ ahead of Martinez… who takes La Roja 6’’ ahead of the American climber!
“The Vuelta a España has always been an exceptional race for me”, Kuss beamed. “I felt super strong all day. It’s fantastic to finish like this after all the hard work of my teammates. It’s not often that I win a stage, but when it happens, it’s a great feeling.”
The 28-year-old referred to the tactics of the Dutch team. After tens of kilometres, Dylan van Baarle, Jan Tratnik and Attila Valter joined Kuss in the lead group of around forty riders. “We wanted to try and put pressure on Remco Evenepoel and Soudal-Quick Step. We knew it was going to be a difficult day to control. Dylan, Jan and Attila rode brilliantly. I have to thank them for all their hard work. For me, it was just a matter of finding out when to make the final gap”, Kuss said.
A few minutes behind the American, Roglic and Vingegaard attacked together on the steep final climb, gaining over half a minute on the red jersey wearer Evenepoel. “The legs were much better today. We still have a long way to go, but today was a good day. I enjoyed it”, Roglic said.
Vingegaard, co-leader of Team Jumbo-Visma in the Spanish stage race, was also pleased with his team’s tactics and praised his teammate Kuss. “He’s a great guy. He deserves this after everything he has done for the team in the past. A great stage win.”
“I enjoy riding for both guys, but of course, it’s great to win for yourself, too”, Kuss said. “I heard on the radio that our leaders were very strong today. Because we were in the lead group with four riders, I could stay in front. A perfect day.”
Sportive director Merijn Zeeman spoke of a dream scenario. “The victory for Sepp and time gains for our leaders. It doesn’t get any better than that. I am so proud of the whole team; it was a team effort.”
Stage 6
- Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) in 4h27’29’’
- Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) at 26’’
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich) at 31’’
GC
- Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) in 21h40’35’’
- Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) at 08’’
- Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) at 51’’
