On stage 17 of this year’s Vuelta, Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic broke an unwritten rule when they attacked their teammate Sepp Kuss, who was riding in red. The Jumbo Visma bosses played down the attack that day, but team boss Merijn Zeeman has now admitted that none of it was planned.
Long before the start of the 17th stage, there had been discussions around the Vuelta as to whether Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic would really help their noble helper Sepp Kuss, who was riding in the red jersey, on the way to his first major tour victory. The two superstars then gave their answer on the section up to the Alto de Angliru. Instead of supporting Kuss on the difficult final climb, they attacked him.
The action caused heated discussions in the scene. The tenor: Vingegaard and Roglic broke an unwritten law and put their own interests above those of the team and their colleague. A teammate who sacrificed himself for the duo for years.
Team boss complains: “There was no more teamwork”
However, those responsible for the team and the drivers themselves later asserted that it wasn’t all that bad. As long as a Jumbo Visma driver arrives in Madrid wearing red, everything is fine. Team boss Merijn Zeeman has now revealed in the “Met open vizier” podcast that this was not entirely true and criticized the two superstars’ attack on Kuss.
“Everything went the way we wanted. There were still three of us drivers [in der Spitzengruppe] was the moment when things no longer went well,” he looked back on the attack. “Sepp could no longer keep up with Primoz and Jonas. And from then on there was no more teamwork. Everything that happened until then was teamwork. But they should have stayed together at Angliru,” criticized Zeeman.
Launching an attack to let drivers from other teams work was something “completely different” than attacking each other, Zeeman looked back. At the same time, he added, the drivers were on a bad road and with a heart rate of 200 beats per minute: “You can’t expect the boys to think clearly.”
Roglic didn’t want to support Kuss
According to Zeeman, after the stage there was a crisis meeting with those involved in the Jumbo Hotel. It was agreed there to support Kuss on the way to Madrid from now on. However, it was not a unanimous decision. Seven drivers voted for it, one initially voted against it: Primoz Roglic.
“He had a problem with it, but in the end he agreed too. Also because his teammates really wanted it. Primoz then said: ‘Sepp should win and you can count on me,'” said Zeeman.