Vuelta a España 2023 stage 18 highlights. A 179km mountain stage from Pola de Allande to La Cruz de Linaresi. Three category 1 climbs for the peloton today, the Puerto de San Lorenzo – 9.9km at 8.6%, and a double ascent of the Puerto de La Cruz de Linares – 8.3km at 8.6%. Could this mark an ideal stage for the breakaway against a tired peloton, or will bonus seconds available on the first ascent of La Cruz de Linares force a battle for the maillot rojo?

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    34 Comments

    1. TJV got absolutely BOMBARDED the last few days and yesterday completely DEMOLISHED their PR image when they dropped Kuss. They had to save their image like this.

    2. everyone saying "best rider should win", the GC battle is a team sport, you should be saying 'best team should win' and at the moment, they're doing just that. Doesn't matter at the end of the day which rider takes the top spot, because no matter who it is, it comes down to how well the entire team performed, and how well they were able to help that rider. If you choose to help Sepp, or Jonas, or Primoz, it doesn't matter because the outcome is the same. Team decides who, and they all must work together to achieve the goal regardless.

    3. TJV created this problem because unlike before when a domestique had the leaders jersey the team would say they were holding it for their leader. Jumbo did not do that for whatever reason and opened up the gc kuss door, probably because they didn’t expect him to have red after the ITT.

    4. How fickle you sports fans are…. So all of a sudden Jonas is so great. Regardless of the Cinderella storyline it really feels like a hand me down victory. But I guess we are all different. I can't be proud of winning knowning well the race had to be dumbed down for my sake

    5. Must be an odd feeling….. Winning the Vuelta knowing that the only reason is that the victory was given to You and not because You were the strongest rider.

      That said…. It could not happen to a nicer guy.

    6. people moaning about Kuss being in red should really chill out, jesus christ. It's a sport, it's all just entertainment. The earth will keep on spinning if Kuss gets the Vuelta. I'd rather see the slowest rider win than have in-fighting and bickering come up again in a sport that really got its act together with respect to sportsmanship in the last couple years.

    7. Being Danish myself I was looking for Jonas Vingegaard to win Vuelta A España when they started out. But the way these race has panned out for Sepp Kuss, I would absolutely love for him to win it now. It didn't feel right when both Jonas and Primoz just left Sepp to fend for himself yesterday and I'm so glad he kept the red jersey. It suits him every well. Sepp is such a humble, self-sacrificing, sweet and likeable guy. He has been there for Jonas at very turn for his Tour de France wins and it was so beautiful to see Jonas give a little bit back to Sepp today after all great work Sepp has put in for Jonas' Grand Tour victories. I hope to see more of the same on Saturday and to see Sepp in red i Madrid. Fingers crossed, he deserves it.

    8. Et surtout a Jonas parce qu'il aurait put allez le déloger de ça tunique roclich lui aurait certainement perdu la vultat avec plus d une minute de retard sur kuss

    9. After the last two days, I'm so glad TJV worked to protect Kuss. Hopefully, these are the team orders for the rest of the Vuelta. With Jonas even giving some time back to Kuss, we will hopefully have no more intrateam drama. Interesting that Sepp said that the plan on Stage 18 was also to ride defensively. That would mean that Roglic's riding away from Sepp (with Jonas following) was not a part of the plan.

    10. Respect to Jonas and Primoz for holding back and protecting Kuss today.

      We all know that those two can win a Grand Tour. We didn’t know however, if he could’ve held back and not gone for it. We know now.

    11. Jonas est un homme de Grand cœur ❤️ parce que s'il avait relayer roglic lorsqu'il ont 1 et 2 kuss ne serait certainement pas leadership les 8 seconde d'avance que kuss avait au sauter en éclat

    12. Look. JV can play nicely… let’s all use the team card now. I think this is more about Rog and the fishermen and the yank that got caught in-between. I reckon most thought he’d crack, but here we are. Let the Red jersey march into Madrid! I mean cycle.😂😂😂.

    13. This has been such a great Vuelta. It has been quite dramatic, with all of us wondering if Sepp Kuss would be protected or attacked. Many were in shock when Jonas and/or Primoz attacked Kuss on a couple climbs. Some explained it was simply to distance themselves (and the entire JV team) from 4th and 5th place in the GC. We were reassured JV would, ultimately, protect Sepp Kuss in red.

      But along the way, it sure didn't seem like it!

      I'm still holding my breath, as we have 2 more stages to go. A flat stage and a "hilly" stage. Kuss can hang with any major rider on Stage 20 (which has several Cat 3 climbs) so it seems the only way he would lose time on Jonas or Primoz is if THEY deliberately try riding away from him. Even if Kuss had a mechanical, it would look badly to have Jonas/Primoz ride away from him; they would need to wait for him until 4th and 5th place in the GC began to threaten JV's 2nd and 3rd place.

      Fingers, toes and eyeballs are all crossed, hoping for good luck for Sepp Kuss!

    14. Jumbo is a great team, we all know Jonás and Roglic are much stronger , now Kuss is in red and what I saw today from both teammates, was real champ, respect you teammate, and he apologized after finish to Jonás , Kuss great teammate.

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