It took a long time before a large leading group, including Kuss, got established. Behind the breakaway, Team Jumbo-Visma controlled the stage with Robert Gesink, Sam Oomen and Steven Kruijswijk. They brought their leader in an ideal position to the final climb, where the Slovenian parried all attacks from Ineos and Movistar.

“It was a tough day today”, Roglic said. “It was very hot and the pace was very high from the first climb. We rode at full speed all day and there was barely time to recover. The team did a good job again today. They were very strong and we were in control the whole time. With Sepp in the breakaway it was an ideal situation for us.”

“The pace was so high on the first climb that that climb immediately blew up the race”, Kuss explained. “It was not my intention to join the breakaway. When a number of guys who were short in the GC attacked, I just followed them. We also didn’t want to give them all the space. I tried to stick with them and wasted a lot of energy which I lacked in the end. We knew it was going to be difficult to control the stage and we expected the competition to put on the pressure, but we survived the day well. We can be happy with how it went.”