Tour de France cyclist Sepp Kuss narrowly avoids fatal crash after almost falling over cliff edge

TOUR DE FRANCE cyclist Sepp Kuss almost fell off a cliff after a “life-or-death” solo crash. The American was leading Saturday’s Stage 20 before two late mistakes nearly cost him more than just seconds in the race. Sepp Kuss almost fell off a cliff after a solo crash at the Tour de France Credit: X The American went into the road barrier and safety net Credit: X It was described as a “life-or-death” moment Credit: X Coming around a corner towards the end on the Alpe d’Huez, Kuss went too wide and collided with the barriers on the edge of the road. That, and safety netting, was all that separated him from an enormous fall. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! Kuss stopped pedalling as he went around the turn to find the best angle but his wheel scraped the barrier and he lost balance. In the clear and on his own, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider then toppled, putting his left leg on the floor and sliding across the top of the small concrete wall between him and serious danger. Kuss fell into the netting and landed on the barrier, sitting there for a few seconds as he quickly got back up to cycle again. TNT Sports pundit Matt Stephens described it as “a life-or-death moment.” On the other side of the red net was a “precipitous drop.” At this point he was then overtaken by Richard Carapaz who went on to win the stage. Most read in Sport He took victory for EF Education-EasyPost on the brutal 170.9km trek from Le Bourg-d’Oisans with over 5,400metres of climbing. Carapaz ended up 31 seconds ahead of Kuss with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Remco Evenepoel also taking advantage of the crashes to come second. Kuss had fallen just kilometres earlier in a tunnel and then had his almost fatal slip up as well. He ended with blood and cuts on his leg as well as elbow and said afterwards: “It was a bit scary, sorry to my wife and my family watching at home! That’s racing. “I’m happy with the fight and the performance, and it was a big day out.” He added: “I was so on the limit, I misjudged the corner a bit. “First in the tunnel, and then after that I was still trying to make up too much time.” He went on: “I was more just annoyed because we actually drove down it this morning. “I was looking at it and thinking: ‘That’s a decent corner, no problem.’ “In the race I took it pretty full on. It was a bit more of a corner than I expected.” Kuss finished: “My wife is not going to be too happy. She always tells me not to take any risks on the downhill. “You have to have a little adrenaline every once and a while.” He did go on to win the most combative rider of the day – a prize for his fight on one of the toughest periods of the Tour. But things got worse again soon after as he was fined 1,500 Swiss francs and got deducted 75 UCI points with a one-minute time penalty for two littering offences. He disposed of waste outside of the designated zones. But that may well be the least of his worries after nearly losing much more. Comment now