21 Tour De France

[martyg]

BOOM.... Sepp. yeah!

Tour de France stage 15: Sepp Kuss climbs high in Andorran air for solo win

Kuss takes first-ever Tour de France win in multi-mountain 'Queen Stage,' Pogačar marks attacks in GC group as favorites finish together.

www.velonews.com

 

[SCWVA]

Today's win by Sepp was one for the record books. Tyler Farrar was the last US cyclist to win an individual stage and a TTT in 2011. David Zabriske also won a TTT stage in 2011. Tyler Hamilton won a stage in 2003. Looks like history has been revised as I couldn't find any reference to Floyd or Lance winning any stages in the TDF.

 

[Tom K.]

Go Sepp!

With his mtb skills, Sepp made Valverde -- widely hailed as an excellent descender -- look a little clunky in places.

It would be so cool to see him repeat on the last uphill finish.

 

[Primoz]

@Tom K. guys on Eurosport said that he's living in Andora, so knowing those roads from every day rides, has probably more to do with this, then his "mtb skills", especially as normally Kuss is anything but even decent descender, and making 20sec on downhill toward Valverde is simply not possible under normal circumstances.
As for repeating that on uphill finish, I don't really have much doubts he can. He climbs great, so with proper lineups, especially in group behind with Pogacar, Carapaz and Co., it would be perfectly possible. But if he would come with that group, then I still think he's missing at least a gear, to be on pair with top guys.

 

[Tom K.]

especially as normally Kuss is anything but even decent descender

I watched a fair bit of video of him on yesterday's descent, and I would beg to differ.

Beautiful, fluid form. Even his correction on a corner he nearly blew through was smooth.

There was one tight, left hand corner in particular that was impressive. He flew through it in one smooth arc, while Valverde broke it up into 3 separate events, so to speak.

 

[martyg]

@Tom K. guys on Eurosport said that he's living in Andora, so knowing those roads from every day rides, has probably more to do with this, then his "mtb skills", especially as normally Kuss is anything but even decent descender, and making 20sec on downhill toward Valverde is simply not possible under normal circumstances.
As for repeating that on uphill finish, I don't really have much doubts he can. He climbs great, so with proper lineups, especially in group behind with Pogacar, Carapaz and Co., it would be perfectly possible. But if he would come with that group, then I still think he's missing at least a gear, to be on pair with top guys.

Sepp has excellent bike handling abilities. Just try to follow him in his 'cross bike.

 

[Primoz]

@Tom K. one thing is single descent on your home roads, other is descending through the season on roads you see for first time. Until now, he didn't really show much on descends and until now, he was never between faster riders in peloton on descends.
@martyg well you and me don't qualify as measurement how good some pro rider is on descends With this analogy, we can say any of Simar Birkner brothers and sisters are best on world alpine skiers, as I'm sure they beat the hell out of anyone of us, yet on WC race, they are somewhere around 10sec back from top guys and girls. I'm sure Kuss can smoke me on downhill on bike anytime he wants, with single hand, eyes closed and with malfunctioning brakes. But doing that to other protour riders is different thing.

 

[martyg]

@Tom K. one thing is single descent on your home roads, other is descending through the season on roads you see for first time. Until now, he didn't really show much on descends and until now, he was never between faster riders in peloton on descends.
@martyg well you and me don't qualify as measurement how good some pro rider is on descends With this analogy, we can say any of Simar Birkner brothers and sisters are best on world alpine skiers, as I'm sure they beat the hell out of anyone of us, yet on WC race, they are somewhere around 10sec back from top guys and girls. I'm sure Kuss can smoke me on downhill on bike anytime he wants, with single hand, eyes closed and with malfunctioning brakes. But doing that to other protour riders is different thing.

Sepp can absolutely smoke me, for sure. However he is not the only pro rider / podium world champion living in my neighborhood. That is the gauge that I am using.

 

[PowHog]

Sepp has excellent bike handling abilities. Just try to follow him in his 'cross bike.

That pretty much accounts for all the pro riders, although there are riders who are better on the descents than others. In his case profound knowledge of the terrain surely helped him to maintain the gap on Valverde, who is an excellent descender, to the finish line.

 

[scott43]

That pretty much accounts for all the pro riders, although there are riders who are better on the descents than others. In his case profound knowledge of the terrain surely helped him to maintain the gap on Valverde, who is an excellent descender, to the finish line.

Yeah..we're talking shades of great here, right? Not like some schmoe like me descending..vs any pro. They're all pretty good at riding bikes!