In a hair-raising moment at the Tour de France, American cyclist Sepp Kuss found himself entangled in netting, narrowly averting a perilous plummet down a cliffside.
Amid a fierce competition for the Stage 20 triumph, Kuss misjudged a sharp right turn as he led during the race’s final four kilometers. His bicycle skidded across three lanes, colliding with a barrier that stood between the road and the sheer mountainside. Miraculously, he landed on his shorts, supported by the safety netting.
However, video analysis reveals how close Kuss came to disaster. A mere few inches further, and the netting ends—highlighting the split-second timing that prevented him from a dangerous descent down the mountain.
Commentator Matt Stephens from TNT Sports reflected on the incident, noting that the protective barrier “potentially saved his life.”
“This was a moment that could have been fatal,” Stephens remarked. “Beyond that net, there’s a deadly drop. The race organizers made a crucial safety decision.”
It was the second crash of the stage for the Colorado native Kuss, who also slipped inside a dark, wet tunnel.
“I was so on the limit, I misjudged the corner a bit,” Kuss said to the Tour’s media team. ‘First in the tunnel, and then after that I was still trying to make up too much time. It was a bit scary. Sorry to my wife and my family watching at home! That’s racing.”
A bloodied Kuss remounted his bike and finished third in the stage.
Kuss said that he wasn’t “entirely clear-headed.”
“I wasn’t too scared,” he told France Télévisions. “I thought I’d read the right line. Luckily, there were nets.
There have been four deaths in the history of the Tour de France, including the last in 1995 when Italian Olympic gold medalist Fabio Castarelli sustained a fatal head injury during a high-speed crash in the 15th Stage.