{"id":2062184,"date":"2026-07-25T11:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T08:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2062184"},"modified":"2026-07-25T11:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T08:38:19","slug":"how-kuss-and-co-blew-their-best-chance-to-beat-tadej-pogacar-on-alpe-dhuez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2062184","title":{"rendered":"How Kuss and Co. Blew Their Best Chance to Beat Tadej Poga\u010dar on Alpe d’Huez"},"content":{"rendered":"
Did Lenny Martinez, Richard Carapaz, and Sepp Kuss blow a chance of stopping what many are already calling the greatest climb in Tour de France history?<\/p>\n
They had the numbers and a big head start on Tadej Poga\u010dar at the base of Alpe d\u2019Huez in stage 19. But instead of drilling it to the summit, the last three survivors started attacking each other instead.<\/p>\n
Kuss knew it would be a long shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew he would probably go from the bottom so with that you probably need six minutes lead or something,\u201d Kuss said. \u201cIt was still a good gap.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar came to Alpe d\u2019Huez with unfinished business after missing out when the Tour last climbed here in 2022.<\/p>\n
But when the three leaders didn\u2019t commit to racing to the line, there was almost no hope at all.<\/p>\n
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\u2018Nobody wanted to commit\u2019<\/h2>\nKuss made a run at the win but tactics and Poga\u010dar proved impossible. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Kuss, Martinez, and Carapaz still had a chance. Friday\u2019s breakaway reached the base of the Tour\u2019s most famous climb with about a 3:30 advantage over the yellow jersey group.<\/p>\n
They dropped the remnants of the break with a little more than 11 kilometers to go, and the tactics up to that point had gone to script. All three had saved their legs for the final moves after support from teammates in the early break.<\/p>\n
But rather than work together until the finish, the trio started playing a costly game of cat and mouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just everyone on their own, nobody wanted to commit fully,\u201d Kuss said. \u201cIt\u2019s still a climb where you get quite a bit of drafting, so it was pretty tactical at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carapaz would attack, Martinez would mark the wheel, and ever-steady Kuss would tempo back.<\/p>\n
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They hit the replay button all the way up the climb in front of thousands of delirious fans. Behind them, Poga\u010dar already made his move.<\/p>\n
\u2018We believed the stage win was possible\u2019<\/h2>\n
With hundreds of thousands of fans on Alpe d\u2019Huez, it was impossible for the leading trio to know what was happening behind them.<\/p>\n
But they were not helping themselves.\u00a0Carapaz attacked four times trying to shake Martinez, who marked every move but never came through with pulls. Kuss would claw back each time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the bottom of Alpe d\u2019Huez, we really believed the stage win was possible,\u201d Carapaz said. \u201cI felt I had the legs to fight for the stage, but the breakaway group didn\u2019t cooperate very well toward the end. Plus, Poga\u010dar simply had an extra change of pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carapaz almost got taken out by a neutral service car in the chaos just as the Alpe d\u2019Huez standoff was on its last legs.<\/p>\n
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When the trio rode together, the gap steadied, but once they started stop-and-start attacks, the Slovenian could pile on the watts and trim the gap in successive chunks\/<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar also got help from UAE teammate Adam Yates waiting up the road after spending all day in the escape. After bouncing back from his crisis two days earlier, Yates gave Poga\u010dar a few precious pulls before the final chase.<\/p>\n
\u2018I saw they were looking at each other\u2019<\/h2>\nPoga\u010dar was on a mission to win Alpe d\u2019Huez. <\/span> (Photo: Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In pro cycling, every rider and team has their own ambitions. And deep into three weeks of a grand tour, the legs don\u2019t always follow the perfect tactical playbook.<\/p>\n
The gap to Poga\u010dar quickly shrank from 2:30 to under 30 seconds with 4km to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw they were looking at each other and I knew that I will catch them,\u201d Poga\u010dar said \u201cI also knew that maybe somebody of those three is saving a little bit because they were looking at each other. So I was quite in doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Pogacar made the catch, Kuss was the first to drop and the Coloradan held on for fourth.<\/p>\n
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Martinez, just as he did at the Tour de Suisse earlier this summer, latched onto Poga\u010dar\u2019s wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only started thinking about the stage win right at the end. Second place is great, but winning would have been amazing. Still, Tadej (Pogacar) was the strongest,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
Martinez insisted he was racing more for GC than the stage win as he bounced ahead of the Lidl-Trek duo of Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose into fifth overall.<\/p>\n
\u2018That\u2019s not sporting\u2019<\/h2>\n
Carapaz couldn\u2019t hide his frustration after the finish after letting the Tour\u2019s most famous stage slip away.<\/p>\n
A winner on the previous day, Carapaz attacked early and perhaps too often, but he wanted to get rid of Martinez. Then Martinez edged him for second, something Carapaz clearly did not appreciate.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI was angry because Lenny cut me off in the final corner. It was a bit disrespectful,\u201d Carapaz told Eurosport<\/em>. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any difference to me whether I finish second or third, but there are certain things that should be respected. So I was very angry.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, he didn\u2019t cooperate, and then he cut across my line. That\u2019s not very sporting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Could the trio have held off Poga\u010dar if they drilled it to the line? No one will ever know.<\/p>\n
Against peak Poga\u010dar who broke the long-standing Marco Pantani record, you need more than perfect tactics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Z8B_4198.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated July 25, 2026 03:44PM Did Lenny Martinez, Richard Carapaz, and Sepp Kuss blow a chance of stopping what many are already calling the greatest climb in Tour de France history? They had the numbers and a big head start on Tadej Poga\u010dar at the base of Alpe d\u2019Huez in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2062184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2062184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2062184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2062184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2062184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Kuss](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2286808328-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
![\"Poga\u010dar](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2287483633-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")