2023-08-31 19:37:04
JAVALAMBRE ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY, Spain (AP) — American Sepp Kuss won the sixth stage of the Vuelta a España, a mountain course, on Thursday while Lenny Martinez finished second and took the overall lead from defending champion Remco Evenepoel.
Primoz Roglic, three-time La Vuelta champion, and JOnas Vingegaard, Tour de France champion, also closed in on Evenepoel, who fell to ninth in the standings just 5 seconds ahead of Vingegaard and five seconds ahead of Roglic, possibly his two most dangerous rivals.
Martinez will wear the leader’s red jersey with an eight-second advantage over Kuss following the 183.5-kilometre (114-mile) stage from La Vall d’Uixó to the finish line at the summit of the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory.
“At the start of the race I had in my head that I might take the red jersey, and today was the day,” said the 20-year-old Frenchman from the Groupama-FDJ team.
Kuss broke away from the pack to earn a demanding climb 26 seconds ahead of Martinez.
Evenepoel was unable to respond to an attack from Roglic and Vingegaard on the final climb, but was able to recover in the final kilometers to contain the damage.
“I felt good, I just mightn’t accelerate when the others did,” Evenepoel said. “There are days like this and today it was my turn. Let’s hope that today was one of the worst days of these weeks”.
The stage in eastern Spain shook up the standings, with several riders who were not considered title contenders placing in the top 10. Marc Soler is third, Wot Poels fourth and Mikel Landa sixth.
It was the third win for Kuss on a grand tour stage. The 28-year-old cyclist won a stage of the Vuelta in 2019 and another of the Tour in 2021.
Friday’s seventh stage is a mostly flat 201-kilometre (125-mile) course from Utiel to Oliva, on Spain’s east coast.
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