Sanity finally arrived. The attacks and debates are over. The controversy was also put to an end and with it all emotion. The orders were followed. The pax Romana was signed in the Jumbo. A peace that will bring prosperity. A peace that will end in a happy podium in Madrid, the three in yellow, companions and united. A peace written with loyalty and gratitude. It was staged in the second and final passage through Alto de La Cruz de Linares, the last port of Primera de la Vuelta. Everyone worked for the same goal. The leader was finally respected. The red jersey was untouchable. Sensibility triumphed. Kuss will triumph.
Vingegaard, winner of the last two Tours, became a worker bee. Far from the queen bee of July that she is, she began to set the pace for the chosen group with 5 kilometers to go. Roglic, conqueror of the Giro and three Tours, one step away from Heras' poker, did not move, like a well-trained kitten. Neither of them jumped to the two attacks of Landa, the nonconformist, who offered the wheel to an abandoned Kuss in L'Angliru, and who in La Cruz de Linares could have been a judge.
The Dane and the Slovenian stayed protecting the American. Together. Vingegaard was seen to have one more gear, a turbo that, of course, did not turn on. He limited himself to making gestures to the former gregarious, now leader, from when it was his turn to respond to him in person. This was the case in Ayuso's two accelerations, very towards the end, from which Kuss came out easily. The leader defended himself easily against the external threat. The internal enemy was neutralized in the team meeting, where the i's were dotted.
To the point that Vingegaard let himself go in the last meters and lost more times in that final relaxation (9s) than Kuss led him in the classification (8s). It was his way of raising the white flag, of saying that this war was not his. "It's nice to be able to give something back after what Sepp has worked on. We hope to be able to do it again on Saturday," confessed the Dane.
The image of the days of Bejes and L'Angliru, where each one waged war on his own, were not ideal or bucolic in a team that boasts of its planning. "After the L'Angliru stage we talked and decided to race this way. We are happy with how the classification is," revealed the leader. “I have to thank them for helping me and supporting me and pushing the entire final climb,” applauded Kuss, who finally felt supported.
The Jumbo truce, where they ran as a team, impeccable, as always in the Tour, without going any further, eclipsed the exhibition of Evenepoel, who won his third stage in the round – one in each week – as he likes, like when okay, with a ride, his trademark. In Arinsal he won a sprint, in Larra-Belagua he released Bardet with 4 km left, this Thursday he went alone for the last 29 km and gained more than 4 minutes on Caruso, the second. Everything for him. One man in charge. He wears blue and white. And his name is Remco Evenepoel, who also secured the mountain jersey by crowning the five climbs in the lead. Without a fight in the Jumbo, the entertainer is the Belgian.
