It’s over on Sunday, after 21 stages that gave us great emotions, the Vuelta a España 2023. This year was certainly a historic edition, which saw the incredible victory of Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) ahead of his teammates Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic.
Thanks to this triumph, Jumbo-Visma itself became the first team ever to win three Grand Tours in the same season with three different riders (Roglic-Giro d’Italia, Vingegaard-Tour de France and Kuss-Vuelta a España). A crazy result, which can only be equaled in the future.
Marco Cannone spoke yesterday to talk about this and more, Eurosport technical commentator, during the Sport2Day cycling special, a weekly event hosted by Francesca Cazzaniga and broadcast on the OA Sport YouTube channel.
“I believe that Kuss’ victory can be defined as a masterpiece, both of the American himself and of the entire Jumbo-Visma – said Cannone -. A team that wins three Grand Tours with three different riders is the apotheosis. I think it will be very difficult for it to happen again in the future. This was the classic astral combination of all the planets funneling towards the Jumbo team.”
Marco then continued talking about Jumbo-Visma: “The Hornets dominated and ridiculed everyone else. They really left crumbs to the rest of the group, deserving everything they won.”
The focus of the discussion subsequently also shifted to Juan Ayuso, who finished fourth in the general classification: “He had a great run. There are great prospects, but it is clear that at the moment it is not easy for him to rank. He took home a very respectable fourth place, but obviously the podium entirely for Jumbo-Visma will remain in history.”
Italy also showed off in this Iberian stage race. The best Italian was once again Filippo Ganna (with one stage win and three second places), but other riders also did well, such as Alberto Dainese (a sprint success for him). “I don’t know Filippo’s limits, but he probably doesn’t know them either – declared the Eurosport commentator -. Yesterday I saw fun on his part and on the other riders who broke away. Ganna was inexhaustible during this Vuelta, he gave us great satisfaction, as did Dainese with the victory in the sprint ahead of Ganna. We didn’t know Filippo in the sprint field, but when someone is strong, has class and is well he can do anything. And now pay attention to the European Championship, where he will be able to do very well.”
“I don’t want to see Filippo as a sprinter in the future, but I want to see him as a complete runner. The fact is that these sprinting skills will certainly help him a lot in his career”Marco later added on Ganna.
For Cannone, the outcome for Italy for this Vuelta is absolutely positive, also because there were two days in which an Italian rider wore the red jersey (Milesi in the second stage and Andrea Piccolo in the third): “I believe that two red jerseys had not been worn by Italian riders for a long time. And then there were the successes of Filippo Ganna and Alberto Dainese. I see an overflowing glass. I’m really happy to say that.”
Now the next big event will be this week’s European Championships in Drenthe, the Netherlands: “The Italian riders are doing very well and I am sure that coach Daniele Bennatti has made the right choices with his staff and the riders themselves. Italy has always been a great point of reference even when we didn’t expect it, as happened for example at the World Championships a month ago, where Alberto Bettiol was the protagonist until the end. I therefore always expect great things, even if obviously there will be several very valid rivals.”
THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MARCO CANNONE
Photo: LaPresse
