Vuelta a España stage 18: Remco Evenepoel wins solo as Jumbo-Visma ride for Sepp Kuss

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) claimed his third stage win of this Vuelta a España, and the 50th of his career, with a devastating display on the double ascent of the Cruz de Linares in the Asturias mountains. Meanwhile, the controversies surrounding Jumbo-Visma simmered down as Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič rode defensively in support of their teammate, the race leader, Sepp Kuss.

It was another long-range solo to add to his collection as he kicked away from his last remaining companions 4km from the top of the first ascent of the steep category-1 climb, and almost 30km from the finish.

By the time he’d come back around and scaled it for a second time, he was nearly five minutes clear, with Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) placing runner-up before Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny) snatched the final podium spot from Max Poole (dsm-firmenich), who had in fact been the last rider to be dropped by the Belgian.

In what has been a disappointing Vuelta from a GC perspective, Evenepoel will leave the race with three stage wins and the mountains jersey in the bag.

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A united Jumbo-Visma front

Nearly 10 minutes after Evenepoel had crossed the line, the reduced group of general classification contenders came to the top of the climb, and Kuss took a giant step towards winning this Vuelta a España as he marked multiple moves as well as the final sprint.

Unlike 24 hours ago, he didn’t have to do it alone, and the image of Roglic and Vingegaard dropping their leader on the Angliru was replaced by a rather more harmonious version in which the team’s two stars committed to the cause of their erstwhile domestique.

Vingegaard, who has won two stages by attacking while Kuss has been in the red jersey, was the one who took it upon himself to pace the leader as Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) started to attack. Kuss himself responded to the sharper accelerations but, once under control, Vingegaard came back through to set a steadier tempo, and in one sequence both he and Roglič were in front of Kuss in what will be a far more PR-friendly image for the Dutch team.

After his lead narrowed to eight seconds on the Angliru, here it actually expanded again, as Vingegaard slipped back in the final dash and conceded nine seconds. Kuss, by contrast, looked every inch a rider who was winning this Vuelta gift-free as he tracked Aysuo’s and Enric Mas’ (Movistar) final sprints, finishing just behind them and just in front of Roglič.

With the final true mountain test out of the way, all that stands between the American rider and a first Grand Tour victory are a pair of flat stages and the tricky penultimate-day rollercoaster through the Sierras north of Madrid.

Evenepoel on the rampage

This was another of those stunning solo displays from Evenepoel, one where he simply burns riders off his wheel until he’s alone, from range, and carries on gaining all the way to the line. The appetite was clearly there and, after things didn’t go his way on Wednesday, he took the race by the horns.

Lining up right behind the race director’s car through the neutral zone, he flew out of the traps as the race began and the breakaway started to form.

It didn’t take long for a move to go clear, with 13 strong names alongside him: Poole, Caruso, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Lewis Askey and Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe), Jarrad Drizners, Andreas Kron (Lotto-Dstny), Andrea Piccolo (EF-EasyPost), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Hugo Hofstetter (Arkea-Samsic), and Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies).

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Evenepoel leads the breakaway

The first task for Evenepoel was to extend his lead in the mountains classification, and he duly took maximum points at the category-2 Alto de las Estacas (5.1km at 7.5%). By the time they’d dragged themselves towards the foot of the day’s toughest single climb, the category-1 Puerto de San Lorenzo (9.9km at 8.6%), with 100km to go, the gap was up to 10 minutes, suggesting Jumbo-Visma were not interested in bringing it back for the stage win.

The San Lorenzo climb didn’t see too much action, with Germani and Hofstetter the first to lose contact as the rest of the break stayed together, and Evenepoel helped himself to more points at the top. However, on the subsequent climb, the category-3 Alto de Tenebredo(3.4km at 9.5%), things exploded. Evenepoel took charge, lifted the pace, and soon the group was cut in half only Poole, Caruso, Kron, Bernal, Piccolo, Ourselin, Bernard were able to stay with him.

Going into the final 40km, the stage would come down to the double ascent of the category-1 Puerto de La Cruz de Linares (8.3km at 8.6%). It was actually Kron who issued the first acceleration as the reduced break hit the steep slopes for the first time, but he soon faded as Evenepoel took matters back into his own hands. Only Poole and Caruso could follow at first, both refusing to work with the Belgian as he looked around on a slightly flatter section.

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Evenepoel was soon on his own

When the road kicked up again 4km from the top, Evenepoel ratcheted up the pressure. First Caruso went pop and then, after impressively hanging in for a few more hundred metres, Poole had to relent, sitting heavily down in the saddle as Evenepoel continued to rip away out of the saddle.

Evenepoel lost a little time on the tricky descent, where Caruso got back to Poole, but he had more than enough to give away, and started to pull out again on the approach to the final ascent.

Once he'd ticked off the lower slopes, it was clear he wasn't going to falter, and he kept on gaining all the way up, crossing the line with a smile on his face on one of those days where he makes it all look so easy.

Kuss the top dog

The controversies of the Angliru were still raging on Thursday morning, as Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) waded in from within the peloton to say that Kuss “deserves more respect” from his team. However, it would soon become clear that Roglič, and especially Vingegaard, were happy to calm the situation and put their personal ambitions aside.

Jumbo-Visma chose to allow the breakaway a significant margin, which arguably simplified the situation come the final climb, with the stage win no longer in play. It was also the case that, for a second day in a row, Bahrain Victorious took the reins on the final climb, with Wout Poels putting in another huge turn for Mikel Landa and dropping Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) plus the Bora-Hansgrohe duo of Cian Uijdtebroecks and Aleksandr Vlasov.

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Kuss tracks an Ayuso attack himself

The key moment came when Landa launched the first attack half-way up, joined by Ayuso. All eyes were on Jumbo-Visma, and Vingegaard proved true to statements that he would commit to Kuss as he came to the fore to perform a helper’s pacing duty.

When Ayuso launched the next attack, Kuss jumped after it himself, and he looked perfectly zippy as he eased across to the Spaniard while his two teammates lagged behind. After a lull, the same thing happened again, and this time Vingegaard flicked the elbow for Kuss to follow Ayuso himself, which he did with ease.

The six remaining riders were by then inside the final kilometre, and it was Mas who opened the sprint from range, tracked and pipped by Ayuso. Kuss was third from the group, just ahead of Roglič, who didn’t attack and didn’t sprint ahead but played a far less prominent support role than Vingegaard, who even fell off the back at the end.

The recriminations may fester on, but for now Jumbo-Visma seem to have clarity: Sepp Kuss is the man they’ll more than likely win the Vuelta with in Madrid on Sunday evening.

What stage 18 means for the general classification

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Kuss crosses the line safely in red

Having come perilously close to losing lead on the Angliru, Kuss, rather than being attacked again by his teammates, managed to strengthen his grip on the red jersey. The nine seconds conceded by Vingegaard at the end mean that Kuss now enjoys a 17-second lead over the Tour de France champion, with Roglič still third at an unchanged margin of 1:08.

There were, in fact, no changes in the order of the top 10 overall. Having jumped to fifth place on the Angliru, Landa was unable to pick off fourth-placed Ayuso, and even trailed off in the final sprint to concede three seconds. That wasn’t enough for Mas to take back that fifth-place berth, despite his all-out sprint.

Behind the Jumbo-Visma podium it’s Ayuso at four minutes, Landa at 4:19 and Mas at 4:30. There’s another gulf back to seventh-placed Uijdtebroecks at 7:37, who remains ahead of his teammate Vlasov. Almeida could do little to reverse his fortunes and now finds himself more than 10 minutes down, while Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) rounds out the top 10 at 12:20.