May is here, which means that it’s officially grand tour season for competitive cycling. If you don’t follow competitive cycling, here’s a short explanation about how grand tours work: There are three big grand cycling tours: The Giro d’Italia, which starts in early May, the Tour de France, which takes place in July, and the Vuelta a España, which takes place in August-September. The grand tours are broken up into stages, with over a hundred riders from various professional teams competing to get the lowest cumulative time and win the general classification (GC). The stages each have different terrain profiles from flat city streets to winding mountain roads. Teams are made up of eight riders. The leader(s) of the team are the GC contenders, and these riders are generally the most proficient in the mountains. The rest of the team is built around the leaders since their chances of winning the tour are the greatest. The rest of the riders on the team are domestiques (literally translating to servants), whose main purpose is to ensure the success of the leader, by whatever means necessary.
The 2023 cycling season was full of excitement, especially for the super team Visma-Lease a Bike (TVL). Visma-Lease a Bike is the reigning powerhouse among competitive cycling teams. The team has a giant budget that it uses to contract the best names in cycling. Among its grand tour men’s 2023 team were big stars such as GC contenders Jonas Vingegaard Hansen and Primož Roglič, as well as famous domestiques Wout Van Aert and Sepp Kuss. For the last few years, TVL and its impressive collection of riders have dominated the podiums of grand tours But the star-studded TVL roster was also a major cause of contention in the 2023 season as well.
Tensions between riders on TVL have been brewing for long before the 2023 season. In 2022, Van Aert’s decision to abandon Vingegaard Hansen on the road to seek a stage win for himself caused a bristly relationship between the two riders, but the situation was quickly resolved. While TVL had planned to attack the 2022 Tour de France with a two-leader team of Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič, a crash on a cobbled stage early on in the race took Roglič out of the running, so there were ultimately very disagreements about the true leader of the race. In the end, Vingegaard Hansen managed to win the Tour de France.
The 2023 grand tour season started happily—Roglič won the Giro d’Italia, and Vingegaard Hansen won the Tour de France for a second time. TVL went into the Vuelta a España with two out of the three grand tour trophies already acquired. TVL sent both Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič to the Vuelta as team leaders, as well as Kuss, acting as the main domestique (Van Aert was unable to attend the Vuelta since he was caring for his newborn child at the time). Initially, TVL planned to have Vingegaard Hansen lead the race, with Roglič as backup and Kuss supporting. Even though Vingegaard Hansen, fresh off the Tour de France podium, was a clear favorite, a stomach illness forced him to take the initial stages slowly. During one of these “rest” days for Vingegaard Hansen, TVL decided to let Kuss chase his five seconds of fame with an individual stage win, which he managed to achieve. While Kuss had little to no chance of winning the entire tour, he was able to get one smaller win under his belt.
Then, something unexpected happened: During the individual time trial a few days later, Kuss had an unprecedentedly good ride and was able to maintain his top spot in the GC. Now, TVL was faced with the dilemma of whether or not they should give up Kuss’s high GC standing to match their original plan, as well as Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič’s expectations. TVL’s decision to support Kuss for the rest of the race was not universally well-met; Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič transformed overnight from leaders and GC contenders to domestics, serving a rider who traditionally was subordinate to them. Despite TVL’s clear decision to support Kuss in the Vuelta, both Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič seemed dissatisfied with the new arrangement, their disapproval coming to a boiling point during stage seventeen in the Altu de l’Angliru where Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič deserted Kuss on the climb just two kilometers away from the finish line and sought victories for themselves. While Vingegaard Hansen publicly announced his support for Kuss in the race for the general classification, he was seemingly more concerned about not losing to Roglič than supporting Kuss. Roglič, on the other hand, did not even acknowledge Kuss as the leader of the tour, continually asserting in interviews with the media that TVL still had three leaders in the race and constantly attempting to challenge Kuss’s leadership.
After witnessing Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič’s immature inability to share the limelight with the man who supported both of them so much in the past, the general public was understandably outraged. Many began to publicly share their disapproval of Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič’s actions and flocked around Sepp Kuss in support. The hashtag “GCKUSS” became popularly used across all forms of social media. Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič’s abandonment of Kuss on the final climb on stage seventeen quickly became one of the most controversial tactical moves in cycling.
With the public’s support firmly on the side of Kuss, TVL was bound to their decision to have Kuss lead the race. After a team meeting, directeur sportif, Merijn Zeeman told the media that he talked with the riders. “Seven riders agreed that [Kuss winning GC] must be the final result. Primož had a more difficult time with this, but he agreed to it. That was also because his teammates indicated it so forcefully. In the end, he said, ‘Sepp has to win and you can count on me.’” During the last stage of the Vuelta, the three main TVL riders crossed the finish line smiling and linking arms. Sepp Kuss officially won the Vuelta, with Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič getting second and third place respectively. TVL had a lot to celebrate that day, with three riders on the podium and all three grand tours won that year.
After the race ended, the media became completely immersed in the three TVL riders. In interviews, the riders all seemed to only have good things to say about their teammates. Vingegaard Hansen and Kuss seemed to be on especially good terms, as many photographers captured celebratory moments between the two riders smiling and embracing post-tour.
While Roglič asserted that he had nothing but respect and happiness for Kuss, this wasn’t necessarily the case. Shortly after the 2023 season, Roglič signed a contract with Bora-Hansgrohe, another pro cycling team, although his contract with TVL was supposed to extend for another year. When asked about the early switch, Roglič explained “The decisive factor was that [Bora-Hansgrohe] is motivated to work with me and that we hold the same ideas.” Roglič, clearly not wanting to reprise his role as a domestique on TVL, decided that it would be a better choice for his career to jump ship. Although there is little love lost between Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič since their rivalry has been a steady undercurrent to their relationship for years, the competition between these two was predicted to become fiercer as Roglič switched teams.
TVL went into the beginning of the cycling season strong. American rider Matteo Jorgenson won the Paris-Nice race and Vingegaard-Hansen won the Tirreno-Adriatico tour. Despite the drama from the previous season, TVL seemed stronger than ever. Then, On April 4th, cyclists from around the world lined up in Etxarri Aranatz for the fourth stage of the Itzulia Basque Country tour. This leg of the race was to be 157.5 kilometers long. Both VIngegaard Hansen and Roglič were early favorites for this leg. The race started well, but then a downhill turn caused a rider to slip, taking down with him a slew of other riders as well, including Vingegaard Hansen and Roglič. The horrific crash resulted in six riders having to forfeit the race and be transported to the hospital. While Roglič did not receive any fractures from the crash, Vingegaard Hansen sustained a fractured collarbone, several fractured ribs, a pulmonary contusion, and a pneumothorax. Vingegaard remained in the hospital for twelve days, undergoing surgery to fix the puncture in his lung.
Vingegaard Hansen’s prolonged hospital stay brought many unanswered questions, most specifically, whether or not he would be able to compete in this year’s Tour de France, which he was a
clear favorite for after his last two consecutive wins. During his stay at the hospital, the rest of TVL began altitude training for the race without Vingegaard Hansen. When asked about Vingegaard Hansen’s plans for the future, directeur sportif Frans Maassen explained that the rider’s health came first and that TVL would continue to evaluate Vingegaard Hansen’s wellness level. “He’s going to walk first, ride indoors, and then on the road,” Maassen explained. While it is unclear whether or not Vingegaard Hansen will recover in time to race the Tour de France, it is clear that TVL will not let him compete until he is completely healthy once again.
Looking forward, Team Visma-Lease a Bike’s future is uncertain. In the course of two seasons, TVL went from having too many competitive leaders to none. Until Vingegaard’s health condition is better understood, we can’t know exactly what’s to come for the previously dominating cycling team. As the Tour de France comes closer every day, the world will watch Team Visma-Lease a Bike in anticipation.
Team Visma-Lease a Bike’s Primoz Roglič, Jonas Vingegaard Hansen, and Sepp Kuss in 2023’s Vuelta a España. 7sur7.be