Team Visma | Lease a Bike appeared at the start of the fifteenth stage with one rider less. Cian Uijtdebroeks withdrew from the Vuelta after a Covid infection. “Cian was not feeling that well  the last few days”, said sports director Grischa Niermann about the forced abandonment. “Last night he tested positive for Covid. He showed no severe symptoms, but the decision to send him home was quickly made. There he can spend the next period fully resting from an intense Vuelta.”  

The second Vuelta week closed with a short but tough stage between Infiesto and Valgrande-Pajares. After three categorised climbs, the dreaded final climb of the Cuitu Negru awaited. The 19-kilometre climb contained some extremely steep sections of more than 20 per cent.  

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders missed the first battle for a place in the early breakaway. Moments later, Steven Kruijswijk was among the riders who managed to join the leading group. The 37-year-old Dutchman had to let go at the front on the next climb. A leading group of six then set course towards the final climb of the Cuitu Negru. There Castrillo proved to be the strongest.  

In the group of favourites, Kuss made a good impression. In the steep final stretch, the defending champion chose his own pace after accelerations by Primoz Roglic and Enric Mas. Kuss eventually reached the line in eighth place at the top of one of the toughest climbs in this Tour of Spain.  

“It was waiting until the steep final climb”, Kuss responded afterwards. “After that, it was every man for himself. The last few hundred metres were insane. On the images from 11 years ago, it looked like Contador was sprinting uphill, so I thought it wouldn't be too bad. I barely got ahead on the last stretch, it was that tough.”  

“The second week was tough. There was not a single stage where we could ride in saving mode. The succession of hill and mountain stages took a lot of energy. I am therefore very much looking forward to tomorrow's rest day”, the American said.  

Wout van Aert enters the rest day as leader of the points and KOM classification. Although he has to share the lead in the KOM classification with Jay Vine after today. “It's nice to go into the rest day as holder of the polka dot jersey”, Van Aert said afterwards. “I expected Vine to be the new leader after today, so I'm a bit surprised. In the beginning of the stage I didn't have a good feeling, so I decided to take it easy. In the final week there are still some stages where I want to go for the win. I will mainly focus on that, but we will also see what is possible in terms of the mountain classification.”