On Thursday, Durango’s Sepp Kuss proved once again that he is one of the premier mountain men in the Tour de France.
Kuss, riding for Team Visma-Lease a Bike, had his best stage finish of the 2025 Tour on Thursday when he crossed the finish line of Stage 18 in 10th place.
The Durangoan was riding with his team leader, Jonas Vingegaard, to try and take back some time to Vingegaard’s rival and general classification leader Tadej Pogačar. The grueling 171.5-kilometer mountain stage started in Vif, France, and finished in Courchevel Col De La Loze, France.
Vingegaard attacked with the support of Kuss and Visma-Lease a Bike to try and catch up with the breakaway group and take back some time from Pogačar. Unfortunately for Vingegaard, Pogačar followed him.
Kuss was dropped from the GC group with about 5 km left. Pogačar and Vingegaard were together until Pogačar attacked with about 200 meters left for second place. Vingegaard had no response and he had to settle for third.
Ben O’Connor won the stage in five hours, three minutes and 47 seconds. Pogačar was second, 1:45 behind and Vingegaard was third, 1:54 behind the winner. Kuss crossed the finish line as the second-best Visma-Lease a Bike rider in 10th, 3:26 behind O’Connor.
“It was an incredibly tough day,” Vingegaard said in a Visma-Lease a Bike press release. “I don’t think I’ve ever ridden such a hard stage in my career. I felt quite good. It was our plan to make the race hard from early on, and that’s exactly what we did. I want to thank my teammates once again for their hard work today. Their support continues to motivate me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take any time back from Pogačar in the end, but once again we proved to be evenly matched.”
Kuss’ 10th place finish in Stage 18 was his best stage finish in the Tour since Stage 14 in the 2023 Tour when he finished fifth. Kuss’ best ever Tour stage finish was in 2021, when he won Stage 15.
The Durangoan moved up three spots in the GC to 12th. He is 49:46 behind Pogačar in the lead. Vingegaard is second, 4:26 back of Pogačar.
Fellow Durangoan Quinn Simmons had a solid Stage 18 on Thursday, finishing 41st, 33:23 behind O’Connor. He’s 50th in the GC.
Simmons helped his Lidl-Trek teammate Jonathan Milan secure some sprint points early in the stage with about 147 km left. After Milan scored the maximum sprinters points, Simmons stayed aggressive by pushing the pace of the group he was in only a few kilometers after.
On Wednesday, riders had a flat 160.4 km stage that started in Bollène, France and ended in Valence, France. Milan won the race; Kuss finished 67th and Simmons finished 147th.
After 18 stages, Milan leads the points battle for the green jersey with 332 points; Pogačar is second with 257 points. Simmons is eighth with 110 points.
Pogačar leads the King of the Mountain standings with 105 points, followed by Vingegaard in second with 89 points.
Florian Lipowitz continues to hold the top spot in the youth classification with Oscar Onley only 22 seconds behind in second. Simmons is 10th, 2:27:51 behind.
Visma-Lease a Bike still leads the team standings with a 14 minute gap to UAE Team Emirates-XRG in second. Simmons’ Lidl-Trek remains in 19th.
Stage 19 on Friday is the final mountain stage on the Tour. Riders will then battle on a hilly Stage 20 on Saturday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
