Sepp Kuss (Visma-Ries-a-Bike), winner of the 2023 Vuelta a España, lost time to three-time overall winner Primoš Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) on stage 4, Pico Viluercas, but “the glass is half full. The glass is half full,” he enthused.

In the first kilometer of the steepest cemented section of Viluelcas, called the Collado de Ballesteros, Roglic powered up and Kuss finished 28 seconds behind.

By no means an ideal time loss for Roglic, other top riders such as three-time Vuelta runner-up Enric Mas (Movistar) and Joan Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) were ahead of him at the line, but Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) and Richard Kus was never far off the pace, as other GC contenders such as Karapas (EF Education Easy Post) were both 1:29 back.

Cusu, who finished 13th overall, was now looking to regain momentum deep into the Vuelta as he took on the ninth stage to Granada, which crosses various dreadful climbs in the Sierra Nevada.

However, while he made Roglic, who had a great run in Pico Vilhuelcas, a strong contender going forward, he commented afterward that the time loss was not as bad as he had feared on the climbs and he was well into the GC contenders. [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]