The appointment is set for 1:30 in the morning. The members of the Thor unit take cover in the darkness. Before starting the mission, Nazar explains that they need authorization from the Ukrainian air defense system.
“They tell us if there are other drones
The small Italian island of Lampedusa was hard-pressed on Thursday to cope with the arrival of some 7,000 migrants in boats from North Africa, the equivalent of the entire local population.
The local shelter, with capacity for fewer than 400 people, was overwhelmed by men, women and children forced to sleep outside on makeshift plastic beds, many wrapped in survival blankets.
There were tensions on Wednesday when the Italian Red Cross, which runs the facilities, distributed food, forcing the police to intervene.
Some young people then headed to the historic center of the town of Lampedusa, where an AFP photographer saw some eating ice cream.
Many said they were hungry, but few had money and some restaurants turned them away.. Other establishments offered them free food, or residents and tourists paid for it.
Located about 145 km off the coast of Tunisia, Lampedusa is one of the stopping points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
Good weather favored arrivals in recent days. On Tuesday alone, 5,000 people arrived in Italy according to data from the Ministry of the Interior. Most were picked up from their fragile boats at sea by the coast guard, who took them to the port of Lampedusa.
But many don't go that far.. More than 2,000 people have died this year crossing between North Africa and Italy and Malta, according to the UN migration agency.
The last known victim was a five-month-old baby, who reportedly fell into the water on Wednesday when he was part of a group being brought to shore.
Critical situation
For years, the Lampedusa reception center had difficulties coping with arrivals. Humanitarian organizations indicated a lack of water, food and medical care.
The Italian Red Cross took over in June, promising to offer a more “dignified” welcome, but admitted this week that it was having difficulties with the increase in arrivals.
The organization reported that more than 7,000 people were at the site on Wednesday morning, a figure that raises “management problems.”. Some 5,000 people must be transferred before the end of the day on Thursday to Sicily, where there are larger facilities.
“The situation is certainly complex and we are trying to progressively return to normality,” said Francesca Basile, head of migration for the Italian Red Cross, on Thursday.. “Despite the critical situation, we continue trying to distribute beds to prevent people from sleeping outdoors,” he explained.. “We gave everyone food and distributed dinners last night, and today everyone will also receive what they need,” Basile said.
Italy's far-right government recently allocated €45 million ($48 million) to Lampedusa to help the island better manage the migration situation.
But head of government Giorgia Meloni, elected a year ago after promising to end mass migration, is asking the European Union for help.
Almost 124,000 migrants have arrived on Italian shores so far this year, 65,500 more than the same period last year.
However, the numbers still do not exceed those of 2016, when more than 181,000 people, including many Syrians fleeing war, arrived in Europe illegally.
The European Committee of Social Rights, based in Strasbourg, will not issue a resolution to the complaint raised by UGT about the cost of unfair dismissal in Spain until the beginning of 2025, despite the fact that the entire allegations process has already concluded this month of August, as confirmed by sources from the organization to EL MUNDO.
“The current average time it takes us to resolve a claim that has not been considered a priority, as is the case of 207 raised by the General Union of Workers against Spain, is 35 months, almost three years, which is the most “It is likely that it will take us a year and a half to issue a resolution, until early 2025,” sources from the Department of Social Rights and the European Social Charter of the Committee, made up of 15 official members and an advisory team of 8 jurists, admit to this medium. , from its French headquarters.
16 months have already passed since the union led by Pepe Álvarez filed the claim before this Committee, on March 24, 2022, in which they alleged that the compensation system for unfair dismissal in Spain – which regulates a payment equivalent to 33 years per year worked-is unfair, insufficient and is not enough of a deterrent for the company to choose not to terminate contracts without just cause. Specifically, they denounce that the compensation is contrary to Convention 158 on the termination of the employment relationship of the International Workers' Organization and article 24 of the European Social Charter, which the Government of Spain ratified in its entirety in 2021.
The Committee admitted the claim in September, requested allegations from the International Organization of Employers – which were sent in December – and also from the Government of Spain, as a denounced party, which responded to Strasbourg in March of this year defending the current system.. UGT gave its reply in April and, on the 28th of last month, the Executive sent its latest allegations.
Once all this information has been received and analyzed, the Committee usually takes between six and seven months to prepare the draft resolution and, afterwards, it is voted on in one, two or three deliberations (on average there are two per process and the Committee appointment for a deliberation every 6 weeks) of the fifteen members of the Court, among whom is a Spanish woman, Carmen Salcedo, professor of Labor Law and Social Security at the University of Valencia.
Every year between 10 and 12 resolutions are issued and number 187 is currently in process, which means that the UGT resolution (number 207) still has 20 to go, plus those that are declared priorities that “sneak” into this process. and will be processed in advance.
Although we will have to wait almost a year and a half to know the result, in Strasbourg they advance that the jurisprudence to date and the precedents of France and Italy seem to point to a possible favorable result for the unions against the current legislation.. In these two countries the national unions filed similar complaints and the Committee considered that the laws were contrary to the European Social Charter: in the case of France, unanimously, and in that of Italy, with 11 votes in favor and 3 against. were not argued, as they did not ask to include their “dissenting opinion”.
A binding resolution?
The pronouncements of this Committee motivated, in the case of Italy, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to adopt a resolution, while in the case of France a recommendation was issued last week, on September 6, since in recent years this route has been chosen. In both, they ask the respective countries to take their resolution into account..
However, in neither of the two countries – although in France there has not yet been time – the resolutions have not motivated a change in legislation to modify the cost of dismissal, but when unfair dismissals end up in court, the courts of those countries are forced to take into account the Strasbourg position.
In the case of Spain, there have already been courts that have relied on the European Social Charter to accept compensation for dismissal 'à la carte', in which the personal characteristics of the affected person are taken into account, and it is foreseeable that the Committee will rule. in favor of the unions and give more reasons to the judges to follow this criterion, while the Government – depending on the sign – could use it as a pretext to negotiate in social dialogue a change in the rules of the game.
After UGT's claim, CCOO presented another similar one (218) with the same complaint. The Strasbourg Committee could decide to combine both procedures into one and issue a single resolution, which would benefit the Unai Sordo union in terms of time, although if they raise different things it could process them separately..
The Committee accumulates a delay in processing complaints – it still has 42 registered to be resolved – because it suffers from a lack of personnel while there has been an increase in activity: before it received 8 collective complaints a year and now about 20, while that the staff has not grown.
An environmental activist is murdered every two days, according to the annual report of the organization Global Witness. A total of 177 activists lost their lives in 2022, 38% of the victims were indigenous and 88% of the lethal attacks were committed in Latin America, mainly in the Amazon.
Colombia once again leads the world ranking with 60 murders, followed by Brazil (36), Mexico (34), Honduras (14) and the Philippines (11). The death of the Brazilian activist Bruno Araujo Pereira and the British journalist Dom Philips, in June 2022, was the news that went around the world, although similar events are relatively common in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
It is estimated that in the last decade 1,910 environmental activists have died, at the hands of organized crime, poachers or in events related to land grabbing and forestry and mining operations.
“For too long, those responsible for these attacks on environmental defenders have gotten away with these murders,” denounces Shrutti Suresh, co-campaign director at Global Witness.. “Despite being threatened by irresponsible actions by corporations and governments, this global movement of people defending their homes and communities remains strong and cannot be silenced.”
Dead in Latin America
In Latin America, a total of 1,335 activists have died in the last decade. The problem is especially worrying in Colombia, which by far leads the world ranking with 382 deaths since 2012.. According to an analysis by the Somos Defensores Program, only 5.2% of cases have reached court. In Mexico, 90% of cases against activists and journalists are listed as “unsolved.”
In Brazil, the international reaction to the shooting death of indigenous activist Bruno Araujo Pereira and British journalist Dom Philips, when they were investigating the impact of poaching in the Javari Valley, forced action by the authorities and the arrest of two suspects: Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, known as 'Dos Santos', and Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, alias 'Pelado'.
The majority of victims on the front line of fire are indigenous activists, as reported by Laura Furones, who participated in the Gobal Witness report: “Indigenous peoples are the main guardians of the forests and play a fundamental role in mitigation of climate change. And yet native communities are under siege in places like Brazil, Peru or Venezuela, precisely for that reason.”
The report includes increasingly frequent cases of environmental “exiles”, such as the Colombian pediatrician Yesid Blanco, who had to leave his country and settle in the United States after denouncing the terrible impact of toxic discharges in the community of Patio Bonito, where Infant mortality skyrocketed and children were born with anencephaly (without part of the brain or skull). Blanco had to leave his position as director of intensive care at the Barracabermeja hospital after receiving death threats for making the cases public.
Astronomers have known about it since last March 28, but it is now, with its existence scientifically confirmed, that it has been disclosed.. Earth has a new moon. We are not talking about the lunar phase in which the satellite is located between the Earth and the Sun, becoming invisible from our planet.. Named 2023 FW13, it measures about 15 meters, about the size of a city bus.. For us it is not bad, but this is nothing in the dimensions of the universe. 'Primordial crumbs' are how some astrophysicists define these cosmic minutiae that wander through space.
And in the space around the Earth there are many of these minutiae. What happens is that their size means that they have gone unnoticed until now. “They are very small objects, with a dark surface and lack their own light, they only reflect sunlight.. That's why it's very difficult to see them.. They are not seen until they are very close,” explains José María Madiedo, astrophysicist at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, of the Higher Council for Scientific Research, CSIC.
This despite the fact that FW13 has been with us since 100 BC, according to astrophysicists.. The development of new telescopes has made this task easier.. The new moon was detected by one of them, the powerful Pan-STARRS, located on the Hawaiian volcano Haleakala.
The convoluted birth of a triple star
Earth watchers from the Italian countryside: “Sooner or later an asteroid will fall but we are working to discover them and be able to deflect them with a ship like DART”
The size of 2023 FW13 meant that it was initially ignored by scientists, who thought it was one of thousands of pieces of space debris orbiting Earth.. Determined that, indeed, it is a celestial body, it has been included in the list of the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union, IAU.
The small dimensions of 2023 FW13 have made astronomers rethink some cosmic names. It seems too sensationalist to call a space object that is a simple rock a moon. So they have named it a quasi-moon.
Although due to its orbit, it should be called a quasi-satellite, because despite its proximity to the Earth, it is gravitationally linked to the Sun.. 2023 FW13 orbits at a distance of 2.57 million kilometers from us, while the Moon of all life is 0.38 million kilometers away. The distance for the force of Earth's gravity to capture a celestial body, the so-called Hill sphere, is 1.5 million kilometers.
Some of these objects have an orbit very similar to that of the Earth. At some moments, the relative speed of the object with respect to that of the Earth is very small and it is located in an area where the gravity of our planet predominates.. Then they become traveling companions, the Earth captures it and turns it into a quasi-moon. “This capture can be for a short time or become a permanent capture,” explains Madiedo.
Theories about its origin
It is risky to point out the origin of this space body. What astronomers are careful to make clear when talking about these and the new moons that appear, is that they do not constitute any danger, and it is unlikely that they will fall to our planet.
The Moon does not have this only sister. Both are part of a family of which it is not known how many there are, although indications indicate that it is a large family.. “Four quasi-moons have recently been discovered and it would not be strange if more appear. In the environment of our planet there are many similar rocks that could be trapped by our planet,” says Madiedo.
In 2016, astronomers discovered one of these unknown sisters of Selene. At 100 meters in diameter, they called it Kamo'oalewa, a traditional Hawaiian name much more evocative than the insipid 2023 FW13 discovered this year.. While it gives clues to its nature, it is loaded with poetry, as it means The Daughter Who Travels Alone.
Kamo'oalewa, 2023 FW13 and the other 'new' little sister moons of Artemis are the advance of those that will be discovered in the coming years, astronomers joyfully say. A scientific joy that, on the contrary, can cause concern for poets and lovers when it comes to choosing which moon to stay on.
Small dictionary of celestial bodies
Asteroid. Piece of rock of very variable dimensions caused by the collision of primitive celestial bodies. Most are located in the Asteroid Belt, between Mars and Jupiter.
Kite. Celestial body formed by particles of rock, ice and gases such as methane that orbit around the Sun and whose components sublimate forming a hair made of gases and dust.
Quasi-moon. Asteroid that orbits the Sun and is trapped by the Earth's gravity, orbiting around it.
Quasi-satellite. Asteroid that orbits the Sun and passes through the proximity of the Earth, without being captured by its gravitational field.
Meteor. Flash of light caused by space debris burning up in the atmosphere.
Meteoroid. Space fragment less than 50 meters in diameter from comets, asteroids and planets, which upon entering the atmosphere is heated and vaporized totally or partially.
Meteorite. Meteoroid that does not completely disintegrate upon entry into the atmosphere and part of it impacts in solid form on the Earth's surface.
satelite. Celestial body that revolves around a planet.
More than 75% of European bumblebee species could be threatened in the next 40 to 60 years, according to the worst projections of the latest study published in Nature. Change in land use, management of intensive agriculture, the rise of genetically modified crops, the planting of invasive exotic species, environmental pollution, climate change and the use of pesticides have been identified as key factors. of what seems like the road map of an extinction.
About 90% of all wild plants and most cultivated plants benefit from animal pollination. The international community is concerned about the decline in natural pollination. A reasonable fear because global agriculture increasingly needs pollinators to supply food: crops that depend on these animals produce 300% more crops today than five decades ago.
The Bombus bumblebee is a genus of bees considered especially important for the pollination of crops in the cold and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.. Human-generated transformations of natural habitats and increases in temperature are implicated as key factors in the collapse of its wildlife.
Bumblebees learn to distinguish objects by touch
The bumblebee is declared an endangered species in the US
In their study, University of Brussels biologist Guillaume Ghisbain and his colleagues have been able to quantify Europe's past, present and future ecological suitability for bumblebees.. The observational data covers the periods 1901-1970 (past) and 2000-2014 ('present'), and projections are made up to 2080.. Thus, it is expected that between the years 2061 and 2080, if conservation measures and policies are not produced to mitigate human impact on important ecosystems, 38% to 76% of European bumblebee species will no longer be able to continue living in 30%. of the territory they currently occupy. The most affected are species from arctic and alpine environments, which may be on the verge of extinction in Europe, as soon as they lose at least 90% of their current territory in the same period.
Over the years, the bumblebee has become the most effective of agricultural pollinators: it works seven days a week in 18-hour days, it can do so in low light, it withstands relatively low temperatures and it visits a wide variety of plants.. As they are large and hairy, more pollen gets trapped on their bodies, and they do not usually leave the greenhouses in search of more attractive ones.
The authors note that parts of Scandinavia can potentially become the last refuge in Europe for these displaced or threatened species, although it is not yet clear whether these regions can also be affected by changes driven by human activity.
The study warns that it cannot take into account the effects of extreme weather events, which are known to severely affect insect populations, either by direct death, by altering cognition or by reducing fertility, which would make the predictions more catastrophic statements in this study could end up being conservative.
The internal tensions in the PSOE over the decisions that Pedro Sánchez is taking regarding Catalonia and the independence leaders have long been testing the seams of the formation. The negotiation of a possible amnesty is one more chapter, very important, but it adds up and goes on.. And if the seams get tight, they pop. And they have jumped in the case of Nicolás Redondo Terreros. The PSOE leadership has decided to expel the historic trade unionist and socialist leader for “repeated contempt for the PSOE acronym”. A decision that occurs when voices of socialist leaders are raised against a possible amnesty, a rejection that was also expressed by the former secretary general of the Basque socialists.
The decision was made last Monday, at the meeting of the party's Executive, after opening the file a few weeks ago and informing it “several times”, according to official Ferraz sources.. The affected person maintains, however, that he has found out from the press. In the training they consider that the repeated criticism expressed by Redondo Terreros is sufficient reason for his expulsion, after opening a file against him.. He was not the first, since in May 2021 an expulsion file was already opened for him and Joaquín Leguina after appearing with Isabel Díaz Ayuso during an institutional event. Finally, the PSOE backed down and did not expel Redondo Terreros, concluding that no foul was committed.
Feijóo regrets the expulsion of Redondo: “Politicians like him are necessary for Spain”
Now they consider that there is a lack. Reason for expulsion, as eldiario.es has advanced and EL MUNDO has confirmed. The reason? The criticism that in recent times the former secretary general of the Basque socialists has leveled at the political decisions and initiatives of Pedro Sánchez, especially those related to the relationship and concessions to the independentists. “Eight million voters deserve respect, and also an organization with 140 years of history,” sources from the socialist leadership explain to this newspaper.”
The expulsion, state official PSOE sources, occurs after opening that file and that Redondo Terreros has not made allegations to defend himself during these days, according to Ferraz. The former general secretary of the party in the Basque Country, on the other hand, has reported that he has found out through the media and that he was “not aware” of any other file beyond the one that was opened in 2021 for participating with Joaquín Leguina in an event with the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
In recent weeks, Redondo Terreros has been very critical not only of the possible negotiation of “formulas” on an amnesty, as well as of the negotiation that the Government is holding with Carles Puigdemont.
In an interview published last Sunday by the Crónica supplement of EL MUNDO, coincidentally one day before the PSOE Executive decided to expel him, Redondo Terreros criticized the possibility of the PSOE promoting a new amnesty law. “The amnesty of '77 was a founding act of democracy. A national hug. This is the complete opposite. The amnesty of some characters who made a nineteenth-century statement against the system, with the sole purpose of obtaining the necessary votes for this man to achieve the investiture,” he stated.
The former secretary of the Basque socialists has not been the only socialist leader who has publicly spoken out against a possible amnesty. In recent weeks, former leaders such as Felipe González, Alfonso Guerra, Ramón Jáuregui or Joaquín Almunia have joined the criticism of current leaders such as Emiliano García-Page or Javier Lambán. But the only one expelled is Redondo Terreros, who does join Joaquín Leguina, who also had an expulsion file opened in May 2021 for the act with Ayuso, and in his case it did lead to his departure from the formation.
At Ferraz they downplay these criticisms, consider them amortized and rule out that there is an internal wave due to the negotiation and the pact with Junts.. They try to deactivate and minimize internal censorship. They believe that the censorship of voices like González, Guerra or even Page and Lambán were discounted and do not cause tectonic movements in their ranks. Another thing will be the text on the amnesty that can be agreed with the Catalan independentists.
In any case, in the PSOE they describe these criticisms as “discordant voices” and close ranks with Sánchez. “Regardless of the fact that there are dissonant voices or voices that think otherwise, it is obvious that the Executive (Federal of the PSOE) is unanimously behind President Sánchez, encouraging him, helping him, trying to give him all the necessary strength because the task is complex (… ). This is how we feel in the party as a whole,” said this week María Jesús Montero, Minister of Finance and number two in the party.. Even Isabel Rodríguez, spokesperson for the Executive, in line with González's criticism, wanted to emphasize that “now there is another generation” at the head of the PSOE.
But already in mid-August, on the occasion of the PSOE's agreement with the Basque and Catalan independentists to make the socialist Francina Armengol president of Congress, Redondo Terreros criticized that the Executive had allowed itself to be “kidnapped by a fugitive”. “The agreement of all the anti-constitutional parties has worked at the Congress table and will work for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez,” he reflected then.
Nicolás Redondo Terreros received the news of his expulsion from the PSOE while having lunch with José María Aznar. The former leader of the Basque socialists was in the Madrid restaurant Alabaster together with the former president of the Government and the Popular Party and with Joaquín Leguina, who was expelled from the PSOE last year.
It was during that meal that he received a telephone message confirming his expulsion from the PSOE, reported by eldiario.es, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
During lunch, Aznar, very active in recent days in favor of the mobilization of civil society against the hypothetical amnesty for the crimes of the process, proposed to Redondo Terreros and Leguina to attend the event organized by the PP on September 24.
Redondo told him no, but that he could go to the Catalan Civil Society meeting on October 8 in Barcelona, according to the same sources familiar with the content of the meal.
The former president of the Government and former secretary general of the PSOE, Felipe González, did not want to delve this Thursday into the internal wound of the PSOE due to the presumed amnesty, but he sent some messages more or less between the lines on the day in which the expulsion of Nicolás Redondo Terreros for, precisely, opposing concessions to the independentists. And from his words one can interpret a discomfort that he has been expressing for weeks.
González stated that “he who is not controversial is that he swallows everything and you understand what that means” and, without reiterating his criticism of the current leadership of his party, he emphasized that “I feel free because I say what I think and responsible because I mean what I say.
He did it in an event in which he was supported by a good part of the Andalusian PP's senior staff, with Juanma Moreno at the head.. The president of the regional Parliament, Jesús Aguirre; The mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, and Senator Javier Arenas were some of the illustrious people who did not want to miss the tribute to González that the Chamber of Commerce of Seville and the Ibero-American chambers paid him.
Nothing coincidental, since the Andalusian PP has embraced the former socialist president in its offensive against Pedro Sánchez for the presumed amnesty and territorial concessions to the Catalan independentists and in the face of the ambiguity of Andalusian socialism led by Juan Espadas, also present in a tribute to the which historical socialists such as Alfonso Guerra or José Rodríguez de la Borbolla attended, as well as Manuel Chaves.
The Popular Party has found in the former president of the Government its best striker against Pedro Sánchez in its offensive against the amnesty that the Catalan independentists intend to extract from him in exchange for his support in the investiture. In particular, the Andalusian PP of Juanma Moreno has embraced González and his resounding rejection of concessions to the sovereigntists to highlight the division in the PSOE and in the face of the ambiguity maintained by the Andalusian federation of Juan Espadas.
Felipe González greets a group of socialist supporters before the event in Seville.
Moreno said of him that he is “a leader for life” and “a reference for those of us who understand Spain from moderation and a sense of state”, words not at all coincidental, chosen to contrast the former president with the current leader of the PSOE.
Moreno regretted that he was not heard and expressed his admiration “regardless of political differences.”
“Nicolás Redondo Sr. called for a strike and I never thought about expulsion”
In statements to journalists in Seville, after receiving the Ibero-American Torre del Oro Award, a recognition by the Cajasol Foundation and the Sevillian Chamber of Commerce, González stressed that “Nicolás Redondo Sr. made me, called a general strike as a parliamentarian, about the issue of pensions, of the reform, and it never occurred to me to think that this would be penalized with expulsion.
For the former president of the Government, who has avoided commenting on his position against the amnesty proposed by the independentists to support the inauguration of Pedro Sánchez, this call for a strike, unlike what happened with Redondo Terreros, “was something serious, not an opinion”. Reports Efe.
It was Felipe González himself who a week ago opened the PSOE's cannon of thunder by giving voice to the stupor and anger that has been caused in a sector of the party by the predisposition of the leadership to grant an amnesty to the Catalan independence leaders accused and convicted of 1-O.
In an interview on Onda Cero Radio, the former president of the Government was exhaustive and stated that “the Constitution has no room for amnesty or self-determination” while warning that “the foundations of our democracy and coexistence are being attacked.”
He even confessed that it was “costly” for him to vote for his party, the PSOE, in the last general elections.
His sharp criticism marked the path of a good number of historical leaders of the PSOE, equally opposed to the unlimited concessions to the sovereigntists in exchange for the investiture.. Alfonso Guerra -who accompanied him yesterday in Seville-, Ramón Jáuregui, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra and Joaquín Almunia expressed more or less clearly their critical position with the direction of Pedro Sánchez.
In this Return of the torpor caused by the tyranny of Jumbo Visma, of the only curiosity of how they will divide the loot, no one like Remco Evenepoel. The bravery of a guy who honors the Spanish round, who goes back to that fateful day in which he lost everything on the way to the Tourmalet with more hunger, with renewed objectives, with the ambition of which it did not even occur to him to abandon. In the unprecedented port of La Cruz de Linares, in the heart of Asturias, another exhibition, a solo victory, the third in this Vuelta, the 50th of his career at the age of 23. [Narration and ratings]
“But without attacking us”: the meeting between Vingegaard, Roglic and Kuss and the Angliru mess
Mikel Landa is also courageous, who will be a member of Remco in the next Tour, another who bets on rock and roll, even if it is for the crumbs of a fourth place, of being the best Spaniard. As in Angliru, the Alavés made Bahrain – especially the powerful Wout Poels – give everything, not to settle. But he does not have the strength, nor does Juan Ayuso or Enric Mas, who shamelessly confesses that he cannot take it anymore, or anyone who does not wear yellow and black.. Any attempt was stopped by Jonas Vingegaard with an overwhelming feeling of superiority.. But the double winner of the Tour is not going to win this Vuelta: this Thursday he announced that it will be a gift for his most faithful gregarious.
Just what Sepp Kuss didn't want: a gift. But the American, everyone's favorite, leaves Asturias in red and only the mountains of Madrid and that stage full of traps on Saturday separate him from history. In Landa's harness, Vingegaard came to his rescue, the roles changed, the future favors. And meanwhile, Primoz Roglic is waiting, the third in contention.
Kuss, entering the finish line. AFP
Even the Dane left a few seconds at the finish line (9) after the only final acceleration by Enric Mas. So even the bonuses no longer threaten the smiling Kuss. “It's nice to be able to give something back after all the work he's done for us,” Jonas admitted at the top.. “The team has decided that Kuss wins the Vuelta. “I have mixed feelings,” Roglic protests.. And that hint of controversy explains everything, what is happening and what is to come in the Dutch squad.
After two lightning stages of just over 120 kilometers, Thursday's was close to 180, but for 150 hardly anything happened. The torpor. The Jumbo (and the rest) decided that the best thing was to leave freedom to the getaway, which, of course, would be Remco Evenepoel. And later we will see. And if nothing happened, so much the better.
The advantage, while Remco's 13 brave companions consumed ports (among them, Egan Bernal and Imanol Erviti, the only Spaniard), increased to unheard of limits (almost 12 minutes). And in the first of the ascents to the Cruz de Linares no one could resist the power of the Belgian, neither Damiano Caruso nor the young Max Poole. Solo Evenepoel until the end. Very brave.
