Geraint Thomas has said most of the peloton at La Vuelta would "love" to see Sepp Kuss winning La Vuelta. He also believed the American rider deserved "more respect" from his team.
Thomas, who has been part of a miserable Vuelta for Ineos Grenadiers, was commenting on the controversy about how three Jumbo Visma riders in the top three places overall have been riding.
While Kuss won stage 6 and has held the race lead since stage 8, his team mates Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard have gradually chipped away at Kuss's time advantage over them. Yesterday, at the conclusion of stage 17 on the Angliru climb, the Jumbo Visma trio were at the head of the race but Roglič pushed on, with Vingegaard in tow, and Kuss was dropped.
While Kuss got on the radio as he was being dropped, his team mates continued to ride away from him. Though the American rode hard all the way to the line and saved his leader's jersey, his team mates gained 19 seconds on him and took time bonuses for 1st and 2nd on the stage.
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That meant Kuss's advantage over Vingegaard is now down to just eight seconds, with another uphill finish to come today. Many commentators - and fans on social media - were critical of Roglič and Vingegaard for dropping Kuss, especially as he is leading the race and has also been a loyal domestique to both for years.
? ¡Otro dominio de @JumboVismaRoad para lograr un triplete y ser más líderes! Revive el ÚLTIMO KM.
⚡ It was slow to the top but once they made it, the Jumbo-Visma train sped down to the finish line to take a 1-2-3. Relive the Last KM#LaVuelta23 @CarrefourES pic.twitter.com/7EHh0A5nMi
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 13, 2023
Thomas was asked about the controversy and said he was confused by the Jumbo Visma tactics, adding there was not need to distance Kuss yesterday.
"If it's obvious that the leader from the start is stronger, then you should have the opportunity to race for the win I feel," he said of the dynamics within teams on Grand Tours. "But looking at this race, looking yesterday, I don't think there's such a big difference (between Kuss on the one hand and Roglič and Vingegaard on the other).
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"The fact that Kuss only got distanced 1k from the top of such a hard climb, at the end of such a hard race, I feel that's slightly different than a big gap between the leaders and the guy, the domestique. There shouldn't be any gifts in a Grand Tour win. I think it's one thing to gift a stage and whatever, but I don't think just because someone's worked for you for years you need to let them win.
"But I don't think that's the case anyway. I think he (Kuss) is good enough to to be in the position he's in. And they played that card, you know, that's the funny thing about it. They rode super hard that day to get a gap (for Kuss earlier in the race), to maintain a gap, and now they're kind of changing their mind.
"I've experienced similar in the past, not necessarily with me. In the smaller races, when you go in with double leadership, and then suddenly halfway through they (the team) are a bit like 'well, we'd actually prefer the other guy to win' or 'we feel he's got a better chance'.
"So, I feel for Kuss. I feel like he deserves a bit more respect, not necessarily from the riders either, I think more from the team. I think the team should be stronger really with that."
Thomas added the tactics on the Angliru were very simple for Jumbo Visma as the three of them had dropped everyone and had no need to fear any other rider interfering with their plans to gain time and win the stage. He said it was clear Kuss's position could have been protected with a minimal easing off the pace in the very latter stages of the climb.
"The fact that it was only three of them, no other tactics came into play. If there was other riders around that's different. If it was close, a fight for the podium… but that's pretty much sewn anyway. Roglic isn't going to win this Vuelta so, you know, there was no real need for him to carry on to gain those extra seconds, in my view.
"You know, he still could have won the stage and his position in 3rd (overall) is still solid, So I don't think he needed to continue at that pace, he could have slowed up a bit. So yeah, it's it's an interesting one… Even the day before though, Vingegaard attacked… But it wasn't like he got a minute (advantage) purely from legs, it was tactical behind… (the group) stalled and they were watching and the Jumbo guys didn't want to pull (thereby chasing down Vingegaard) obviously.
"So if you're gonna race it, race it properly, you know, in my view. You can't just say 'oh yeah we're gonna race it, the best guy's gonna win'. It's quite easy to take advantage of that if you go (attack) and then guys behind don't pull because there's other guys in GC in the wheels as well. So do one on the other, you know."
Asked who he thought who was going to win overall, Thomas suggested it might be double Tour winner Vingegaard. However, he said there was now "a lot of pressure" within Jumbo Visma - being generated from outside the team over perceptions of poor treatment of Kuss.
Thomas added: "Obviously, I'd love to see Sepp win, and I think most of the peloton would as well."
