With the first alpine mountain battle of the Tour de France looming on Wednesday, American climber Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) described stage 11, and the Col de Granon, as "the hardest climb of this Tour."

"But on a final climb as hard as this, only the best will ultimately come out on top." It will be one of many showdowns in this year's race."

The little-known Granon climb, which is 11.3 km long, 2,400 meters in elevation, and has an average gradient of more than 9%, was last attempted in the 1986 Tour de France.

Although not as famous as Thursday's Alpe d'Huez, Cousse team leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) is currently the closest GC pursuer of Tour de France leader Tadej Pogachar. Kus agreed that Granon is a good climb for Vingegaard.

"It's long, it's steep, it gains elevation, it's the hardest climb in this Tour, so I hope we can do something."

"I haven't run it, but I think after the Dauphiné (the other riders) did some scouting.

So far, Kuss insists that the Tour is going well for Vingegaard.

"And now it's an important part of the race where you can really make a big difference."

"Hopefully I'll have a good leg tomorrow, but so far I'm feeling good and I hope I can help."

Kuss has certainly played that role in the past: in 2021, after Primoš Roglic crashed, he was one of the few support riders left in Vingegaard, winning a stage in Andorra at the end of the second week.

Kuss said he would not have been too surprised if Pogachar had been prepared to lose the yellow jersey to Beulah Hansgrohe on stage 10. But it's the same situation tomorrow. Even if I hadn't been able to keep it, I would have had to ride hard tomorrow."

Regarding the one disruption that occurred during the day's stage, Kuss said that it had little effect on the main peloton, which had stopped a short distance from the demonstrators. Nevertheless, he grinned, "It's always difficult to restart and refocus."

But regardless of Wednesday's roadside distractions, with two big Alpine stages about to take place, Kuss has a lot of thinking ahead.