Sepp Kuss, at least yet, may not be able to tackle Tadej Pogañar (UAE Team Emirates) on the Volta a Catalunya climb. But the race's second straight Pyrenees summit finish on Wednesday saw the Visma-Lease A Bike star play a much more active and ultimately more profitable role in the final mountain race of the stage.

Following a mid-climb attack by Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) on Port Eine and a devastating counter-move by the race leader, Kus made a searing charge on Landa and the two began working hard to limit Poganyar's solo bid for glory.

The last time Landa and Kus cooperated on the climb was when Baskrider and the North American made their way through the fog of Angril in the 2023 Vuelta a España, chasing Kus' team・mates Jonas Vingegaard and Primou Logric to keep Kus' overall lead.

This time, in a very different situation, Kusu eventually returned to 3rd place in a group of 5 chases behind Poganyar and Landa and moved to 7th place overall. Of course, the gain of the GC will not sneeze. 

Perhaps more importantly, Kuss showed on Wednesday that he had more in his tank truck now than his steady but otherwise inconspicuous ride in the 2000 12th stage of Vallter 2 24 hours ago.

"I'm doing well, we've tried to make the stage hard, and in the end we have to be happy with our performance," Cuss said, referring to the Visma-Lease A Bike taking up the pace at Port del Canto at 25km before acting at Port ainé.

"When Landa attacked, I was not well placed and tried to fill the gap, but Poganyal had already gone," Kus said. "We tried to work together, but there were strong headwinds and it wasn't that easy."

Now it's only 2 seconds late from the Landa in 70th place, but Pogagnar is out of reach, but Cuss is optimistic about the possibility of building a GC

that's especially true The Stage 6 ride through the mountains of central Catalonia is such a tough climbing day, and that's why it's so important." Much is done on the roads that Andorra-based riders know like the back of their hands from training in their area.

"Something could still happen on Saturday," he predicted. "I still want the top 5 and I can even try it on the podium. We will continue to race in our own way and see what happens.

Kuss explained that Kant's strategy was to defeat the opposition, "because in the end there are a lot of people who will be more fresh." 

"It's better for us to take a good pace and see what happens on the climb. It was good to try and show yourself, it was fun to race. I am very happy with how it worked. I've got a lot better than yesterday, I've felt a lot better and I've got to be happy with the team as well. Hopefully tomorrow [Thursday] will be an easier day, but we can rest a bit.

"It will be very hard to go for that," he said when asked if Poganyar was still attractive. "We have to try to follow him, but not blow up. 

"I'm still looking forward to Saturday, but things can still happen in Sunday's grand Finale.”