Cycling Fans Take to Social Media to Express Outrage Over Jumbo-Visma’s Tactics in Stage 17 of the Vuelta

Perhaps Wall Street Journal sports reporter Jason Gay said it best when he Tweeted, “This is the meanest thing I’ve ever seen in cycling.” Fans and journalists around the world seem to be reflecting the sentiment. Sepp Kuss still has battle wounds from crashes during the last months of riding the Giro d’Italia in May, the Tour de France in July, and now the Vuelta for the last 3 weeks.

One would think that constant work over three consecutive tours would earn the 29-year-old super-star a bit of support from his teammates. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, who have both recently sprinted ahead of Kuss and diminished his overall lead.

Sports reporter Neal Rogers said, “End of the day, the debate about whether Roglič or Vingegaard should win the Vuelta GC rather than Kuss comes down to whether one thinks that, in sport, winning is the only thing that matters versus how one views concepts like sportsmanship, reward, and loyalty.”

And former pro Tom Danielson seemed to suggest that Kuss jump ship and join team Ineos after Jumbo-Visma’s behavior, saying, “This is more about culture, teamwork, and humanity than it is about who is the strongest.”

Cycling reporter Peter Flax Tweeted, “Bike racing, at its core, is a team sport. Riders absolutely bury themselves to help teammates, who often are friends too, succeed. This code, about how cooperation works, is a feature, not a bug.”

Kuss’ teammates worked around him instead of with him on his birthday Wednesday’s Stage 17. At least he got a finish line cake. He remains ever humble and smiling, constantly saying he doesn’t want a win to be handed to him.

Kuss remains in red heading into stage 18, but is now only 8-seconds ahead of Vingegaard and 1:08 ahead of Roglič. Thursday’s stage is another mountain stage, 179 km. from Pola de Allande to La Cruz de Linares. Will Jumbo-Visma give the people what they want—a Sepp-tember sweep?

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