Vuelta a España champion Sepp Kuss will return to stage racing action in Spain next month as he leads Visma-Lease A Bike at the Volta a Catalunya.
Race organisers confirmed the US climber's participation earlier this week as the 29-year-old joins a growing start list of big names taking on the week-long WorldTour stage race.
He'll be among the riders racing up three summit finishes at Vallter 2000, Port Ainé, and Queralt as the race heads from Sant Feliu de Guíxols to the traditional circuit finish at Montjuïc Park in Barcelona.
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Kuss, who led a podium sweep for his Dutch team at the Vuelta last season, has already started his 2024 season with two one-day races in Spain – the Vuelta a Murcia and Clásica Jaén. He finished sixth at the latter before heading on to the Volta ao Algarve, where he ended the five-day race eighth overall.
His next appointment comes at Saturday's Strade Bianche before heading back to Iberia for the Volta a Catalunya (March 18-24) and Itzulia Basque Country (April 1-6) en route to his main season goals of the Tour de France and a Vuelta title defence.
He has three Volta participations to his name, with his best result so being 12th in 2021 after team leader George Bennett fell ill mid-race. Last season he supported now-former teammate Primož Roglič to overall victory after a race-long battle against Remco Evenepoel.
Neither man is set to return for this year's edition, though plenty of top stage racing names will be at the start line.
Race debutant Tadej Pogačar is the headline name on a UAE Team Emirates squad which also includes João Almeida and Jay Vine.
Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), Enric Mas (Movistar), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), and UAE Tour winner Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) are also set to line out.
Kuss' participation at the Volta is one major stop on the road to the Tour de France in July, with the Critérium du Dauphiné set to be his final tune-up before racing alongside two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard in France.
However, his status as a Grand Tour winner, he won't be contesting the leadership at Visma-Lease A Bike with the Dane, who finished third at the Vuelta amid a complex leadership situation within the team.
In Algarve, Kuss spoke to Cyclingnews and several other media outlets to clarify previous comments concerning Tour leadership dating to last year.
"I just want to do my best," he said. "Last year I realised that I could be up there with the best guys while really not thinking at all about the GC. Now if you look at teams like UAE or other teams, they have a lot of leaders, and you always need a second guy who can go with those multiple cards from a strategic standpoint, especially in the first and second week.
"In the third week, it's just about the legs. It never hurts but… I'm not delusional. I see the headlines saying 'Sepp wants to win the Tour' but everyone wants to win the Tour. Even a sprinter wants to win the Tour but I'm not delusional but I'm not under-ambitious either."
