{"id":2121972,"date":"2026-08-31T17:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T14:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2121972"},"modified":"2026-08-31T17:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T14:51:23","slug":"sepp-kuss-went-down-in-pogacars-crash-now-hes-fighting-to-save-this-vuelta-a-espana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2121972","title":{"rendered":"Sepp Kuss Went Down in Poga\u010dar’s Crash \u2014 Now He’s Fighting to Save This Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Vuelta-Espana-2026-Stage-9-8365.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated September 1, 2026 02:41AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sepp Kuss pedaled into Monday\u2019s rest day sore, banged up, but still with some trademark optimism for remainder of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

At least he\u2019s still in it.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the \u201cEagle from Durango\u201d was involved in Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s high-speed crash that also took down Kuss and Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Ben Tulett on the road to Xeraco.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the American paid the price on the 22km relentless climb up the Alto de Aitana in arguably the hardest stage in this year\u2019s Vuelta.<\/p>\n

The 2023 Vuelta winner lost 1:44 to stage winner and race leader Enric Mas, and slipped down three spots on GC after finishing 11th on a brutal 188-kilometer stage that packed in more than 5,000 meters of climbing.<\/p>\n

Kuss \u2014 thankful to escape serious injury in the high-speed crash that forced Poga\u010dar out of the Vuelta \u2014 looked at the bright side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt pretty decent actually, for how high speed the crash was,\u201d Kuss said Sunday at the line. \u201cNot ideal, but I just kept positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A day after any crash is always the worst.<\/p>\n

That was compounded for Kuss, who was among the riders taken down Saturday when Poga\u010dar slammed hard to the tarmac while taking a drink, apparently after hitting some debris in the road.<\/p>\n

The Slovenian crashed hard at 60kph and brought Visma teammates Tulett and Kuss with him as well, along with Netcompany-Ineos star Oscar Onley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not ideal to crash,\u201d Kuss said of Saturday\u2019s drama. \u201cIt\u2019s nobody\u2019s fault \u2014 wrong place, wrong time. There was something there on the road that Poga\u010dar couldn\u2019t avoid and it happened really fast for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps feeling the impact of the devastating crash, Kuss lost the wheel in the closing kilometers Sunday.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Vuelta peloton took the day off.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar is recovering from surgery in a Barcelona hospital, while everyone else in Spain is wondering what happens next.<\/p>\n

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Kuss not giving up yet<\/h2>\n
\"Sepp
Kuss went down with Poga\u010dar on Saturday and paid the price Sunday.<\/span> (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poga\u010dar\u2019s exit reshapes everything in this Vuelta, for Kuss and everyone else.<\/p>\n

The irony is that with no Plan B at UAE and Kuss still working through crash damage at Visma, the two teams that have owned grand tour racing since 2020 are, for now, out of the frame.<\/p>\n

Kuss, at least, is hoping to rediscover the climbing legs that saw him finish with the lead chasers in Andorra on stage 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like the old days when everyone is riding steady,\u201d Kuss said Sunday. \u201cFor sure it\u2019s an open race. I\u2019m happy with my feelings considering the hard crash the day before.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is exactly why Monday\u2019s rest day matters more for Kuss.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old Coloradan is riding his third straight grand tour of the season \u2014 a repeat of 2023, the year he won this race \u2014 and now sits 7th overall at 4:09 back.<\/p>\n

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Too far for outright victory, maybe. But a top-5 or perhaps an outside run at the final podium is still in the cards in this sans-Pogi<\/em> Vuelta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still a lot of hard days to go and there\u2019s still a big TT coming,\u201d Kuss said about the final half of the Vuelta. \u201cThe key is to be there every day. There\u2019s still a long way to go. I\u2019m hanging in there, but there are guys like Gall and Mas who are riding strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The week ahead gives him room to breathe at least. Tuesday and Wednesday are transition stages built for sprinters and breakaway chancers.<\/p>\n

The next big GC reckoning comes Thursday, when the Vuelta hits the next major summit finish at Calar Alto high in the thin air of the Sierra Nevada.<\/p>\n

The more miles Kuss can put between Saturday\u2019s crash, the better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated September 1, 2026 02:41AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/vuelta-a-espana\/sepp-kuss-pogacar-crash-vuelta-2026\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Vuelta-Espana-2026-Stage-9-8365.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated September 1, 2026 02:41AM Sepp Kuss pedaled into Monday\u2019s rest day sore, banged up, but still with some trademark optimism for remainder of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a. At least he\u2019s still in it. On Saturday, the \u201cEagle from Durango\u201d was involved in Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s high-speed crash that also took […]<\/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-2121972","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\/2121972","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=2121972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2121972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2121972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2121972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}