Sepp Kuss may be a Grand Tour winner leading one of the world’s best teams as he attempts to defend his title at the Vuelta a España, but that doesn’t mean that he has forgotten who he was before he took hold of the red jersey a year ago. On Friday, he showed the world that he is still the same old Sepp Kuss who can be relied upon as one of the sport’s best teammates.

“In our team, it’s not only about winning but about performing as a team,” Wout van Aert said after Kuss helped him secure his second stage win of the 2024 Vuelta. “A part of that is that everybody dares to sacrifice himself for the others.”

Van Aert, hunting stages in his Vuelta debut, was the pre-race favorite for stage 7, which featured a punchy climb late in the day – perfect for jettisoning the less versatile sprinters from the pack and putting Van Aert in position to outkick the survivors. Everything seemed to be going according to plan for Van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike until Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) soloed away from the thinned-out pack on the descent off of the climb.

…