Vingegaard reveals that he would have preferred the team to ride defensively to protect Kuss' lead following second day
Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič, and Sepp Kuss dominate the top of the Vuelta a España standings heading into the race's final weekend(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
The final days of the Vuelta a España look set to be a harmonious ride towards a podium sweep and the overall victory for Jumbo-Visma with the team presenting a united front after the controversy and confusion surrounding leadership and the battle for the red jersey on the Altu de L'Angliru.
Fans and commentators were left confused by the team's hierarchy after the race's queen stage two days ago, which saw Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard appear to drop teammate and race leader Sepp Kuss 2km from the top of the steep Asturian summit finish.
The confusion was dampened on Thursday's stage 18 as the pair shepherded Kuss to the line at La Cruz de Linares, and several team members have since sought to play down any talk of intra-team competition or rifts.
"It's definitely different than what you see on social media. There's no hard feelings at all," Hungarian rider Attila Valter told Eurosport after stage 19 when asked about the team vibe heading into the Vuelta's final weekend.
"Also the past days and this whole Vuelta we're just sticking together really well. For me personally, I still need time to realise what we achieved in this Vuelta because, whether you like the team or not, it's history.
"Of course, there are different opinions about how we race, about what we do, but I'm just super proud to be in this group. It's just amazing. We really enjoy it as a team together because this is eight super motivated and strong riders."
Valter, who has played a key role in working for Kuss, who started the race as a super-domestique for the team's two co-leaders, said that reading Twitter in the past few days has been "quite annoying".
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He noted that it's easy to judge what's going on in the team – the three leaders had agreed on being free to race each other prior to stage 18 – from the outside.
"If you [swim] through Twitter it's getting quite annoying," Valter said. "I'd rather just not do it. In the last two days, I wish I hadn't done it because there is just too much opinion.
"Everywhere you see directors on social media. Of course, it's really easy to judge a team from the outside. We did what we thought is the best – the team gave the freedom for everyone to race for victory and that's how they did. In the end, you saw it yesterday that everyone wants Sepp to win. That's just how they did."
'Even Primoz is happy with it'
Sepp Kuss and Primož Roglič before the start of stage 19 of the Vuelta a España (Image credit: Getty Images)
Valter did, perhaps inadvertently via a turn of phrase, reveal that could have been some tension within the squad, saying that "even Primož" is happy to see Kuss win.
The Slovenian had instigated the upping of the pace on the Angliru that saw the American drop, before later saying: "I just spoke with him and it's a weird feeling. On such a steep climb, everyone goes as fast as possible and then we see, eh? I said to [Kuss] – keep fighting, keep believing and he will make it."
Speaking after stage 19 Valter said that Roglič of course wanted to try and win his fourth Vuelta title, calling the situation "a big dilemma".
"If you're a big champion like Primož, then of course you have this fight to want to win and until you're not empty then you want to keep pushing," he said. "So, it's of course a big dilemma and you can understand both sides.
"In the end, everybody is happy with Sepp winning. Even Primoz is happy with it. It's 1-2-3 and three Grand Tour [wins] so it's something huge and we have a super good mood in the bus."
Jonas Vingegaard, who looks set to finish in second place barring any surprises on Saturday's tricky stage 20 to Guadarrama, told TV2 before stage 19 that he had been put in a "difficult situation" during the race, stating that he would have preferred to call a truce after the second rest day.
"It's a team sport and Sepp has helped me so many times so why should I stab him in the back? That's not who I am as a person," Vingegaard told the Danish broadcaster. "I don't want to do that, and until [stage 18] I was put in a somewhat difficult situation, where I felt that perhaps I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"We had agreed that we would race for the red jersey, and it was clear that if the other two duel over it, then I also want to be involved. I would have liked that after the rest day, we had not fought for [the red jersey] anymore and had just ridden defensively. But we decided that we should fight for it, so then I was also put in a bit of a difficult situation, I think.
"I would have liked to see that it had been made earlier. It ends up with Sepp still winning – hopefully."
The trio, as well as the remainder of the Jumbo-Visma squad, came through Friday's flat sprint stage to Iscar unscathed and now face one final challenge on the hilly 208km to Guadarrama, where 4,000 metres of climbing and 10 third-category climbs pose as possible ambush territory.
"It's quite a big one," Valter said of the penultimate stage. "Of course, we can't say that we have this in the bag. We have a tough stage coming up, a really strange stage in the Vuelta because normally if you'd have two or three big climbs you could say it's pretty easy because these three guys in the front – Jonas, Primož and Sepp – are just so strong that you cannot really put real pressure on them as we saw in the last few days.
"It's really difficult to control and attacks will be coming left and right. We have to stick together and I will try to do the best to control the break and help my teammates to arrive in the end and take home the red jersey."
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
