In the final stage, three riders quickly chose the breakaway. The attackers managed to build a three-minute lead on the hilly terrain and held on for a long time but were caught by the chasing peloton 500 meters before the finish. Pavel Bittner won the bunch sprint.

"This win means a lot to me," Kuss said afterward. "I've had quite some setbacks this past year. Last Wednesday was already a very nice day for me with the stage win. Winning the overall classification of a multi-day stage race makes me very happy.”

"I didn't expect to be able to do this already," the American continued. "It was nice that I could race here with a lot of the guys selected for La Vuelta. That it went so well right away, no one in the team had seen it coming. The victory in the general classification gives me a lot of confidence, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming races.”

With a stage win, final victory in the general classification, and winning the team classification, sports director Marc Reef is also very satisfied with last week. "The main goal was to get rhythm towards La Vuelta. The fact that we also won one stage and took the overall classification is fantastic. For Sepp, it was a tough period. It's nice to see that, despite two crashes, he was able to show himself so much last week. This gives a lot of confidence.”

Tomorrow, with the Klasikoa Donostia San Sebastian, a new Spanish race is directly on Kuss' schedule. Read the preview here.