Sepp Kuss won the mountainous 15th stage of the Vuelta, while teammate Primoz Roglic withstood a sustained attack by Alejandro Valverde to keep the overall race lead on Sunday.
Kuss pulled clear of a small breakaway group on the final of four climbs to claim the grueling 154.4-kilometer stage from Tineo to a summit finish at Santuario del Acebo.
”It’s pretty big I guess. Honestly it hasn’t quite sunk in,” Kuss said. ”It is an incredible day.”
World champion Valverde launched his attack midway up the last category-one climb and Roglic stuck to his wheel, while the other top riders fell behind. Roglic finished right in front of Valverde, the 2009 Vuelta winner.
Roglic leads Valverde by 2 minutes, 25 seconds.
”We (are) all celebrating this race, it is an incredible day for us again,” Roglic said. ”But we need to be focused until Madrid.”
With one week of racing left, the Vuelta looks like Roglic’s to lose. He took the leader’s red jersey with a dominant performance on the time trial during Stage 10. Only Valverde, who at age 39 is 10 years Roglic’s senior, has been able to match his power and consistency in the mountains.
”The grandpa isn’t finished yet,” Valverde said.
Tadej Pogacar lost time and is third overall at 3:42 back. Miguel Angel Lopez fell to 3:59 back, and Nairo Quintana lost even more time to sit 5:09 off the pace.
Kuss, who won the Tour of Utah last year, crossed 39 seconds ahead of stage runner-up Ruben Guerreiro. The 24-year-old celebrated by giving high fives with fans lining the barriers before the finish line.
”I think that is what makes the Vuelta so special, the passion of the fans,” Kuss said. ”I have good days when you feel their enthusiasm, but on the bad days when you’re 30 minutes behind the winner, they are there to cheer you and give you a push, that is what makes cycling special.”
Monday’s stage is another tough trek in the green northern mountains, taking riders more than 144 kilometers from Pravia to a beyond-category summit finish atop the Alto de la Cubilla.
Vuelta a Espana 2019 – stage 15 results (Tineo – Santuario del Acebo):
| 1 | Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) | 4:19:04 |
| 2 | Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha-Alpecin) | +39” |
| 3 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) | +40” |
| 4 | Oscar Rodriguez (Euskadi-Murias) | +53” |
| 5 | Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida) | +01’49” |
| 6 | Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) | +02’05” |
| 7 | Lawson Craddock (EF Education First) | +02’11” |
| 8 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | +02’14” |
| 9 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
| 10 | Sander Armee (Lotto Soudal) | +02’48” |
| 11 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +02’55” |
| 12 | Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 13 | Marc Soler (Movistar) | +03’03” |
| 14 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +03’13” |
| 15 | Ion Izagirre (Astana) | +03’29” |
| 16 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +03’50” |
| 17 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | ,, |
| 18 | Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 19 | Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) | ,, |
| 20 | Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) | +04’04” |
Vuelta a Espana 2019 – general classification after stage 15:
| 1 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | 58:10:32 |
| 2 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +02’25” |
| 3 | Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) | +03’42” |
| 4 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +03’59” |
| 5 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +05’09” |
| 6 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +07’14” |
| 7 | Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) | +09’08” |
| 8 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +09’15” |
| 9 | Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal) | +09’44” |
| 10 | Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Merida) | +11’39” |
| 11 | Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) | +13’28” |
| 12 | Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) | +14’58” |
| 13 | Dylan Teuns (Bahrian-Merida) | +15’14” |
| 14 | Ion Izagirre (Astana) | +16’06” |
| 15 | Marc Soler (Movistar) | +16’16” |
| 16 | Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha-Alpecin) | +16’32” |
| 17 | James Knox (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +18’42” |
| 18 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | +18’51” |
| 19 | Kilian Frankiny (Groupama-FDJ) | +22’37” |
| 20 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +22’41” |
