Sepp Kuss has been ruled out of the 2024 Tour de France after Visma-Lease a Bike revealed that he had not recovered fully from a COVID-19 infection that had forced him to abandon the Critérium du Dauphiné.
The reigning Vuelta a España champion was initially included in Visma’s selection for the Tour, announced last week, when the team confirmed that Jonas Vingegaard would line out in search of a third successive victory. Vingegaard will now have to do without Kuss, who is replaced by Bart Lemmen.
Visma-Lease a Bike announced the news on Tuesday morning, four days before the Grand Départ of the Tour in Florence.
“TDF line-up change. Sepp Kuss has not recovered sufficiently from COVID-19 and will not start in the Tour de France. Bart Lemmen is his replacement,” read a social media post from the team. “Get well soon, Sepp!
Kuss’ replacement Lemmen will make his debut at the Tour de France on his first year at Visma, after joining the Dutch super team from Human Powered Health at the end of 2023 and coming to cycling late after a career in the military.
Alongside the 28-year-old Dutchman will be Matteo Jorgenson, Wilco Kelderman, Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte, Tiesj Benoot, Jan Tratnik and GC leader Vingegaard.
Kuss has arguably been Vingegaard’s most important domestique in the past two Tours, widely respected as one of the best super domestiques in the peloton. He’s ridden the past four Tours de France for Visma, aiding his GC leader to second, second, first and first respectively.
Kuss struggled at the Dauphiné and he was a non-starter on the final day. Visma stated on Tuesday that he had abandoned the race with “mild” COVID-19 symptoms. “After a week, he seemed to have recovered enough to ride the Tour de France, but in recent days that upward trend stagnated,” the team said.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Tour plans have undergone multiple revisions ahead of the race, with Dylan van Baarle and Steven Kruijswijk both ruled out of the team after breaking bones at the Dauphiné. Van Aert was initially due to skip the Tour this season, but he was drafted into the team after injury had ruled him out of the Giro d’Italia.
Vingegaard’s participation was in severe doubt after he suffered a punctured lung and a broken collarbone in a mass crash at Itzulia Basque Country in April, but he was finally confirmed in the line-up last week. The absence of Kuss, however, is a blow to the team.
“This is of course very hard for Sepp in the first place,” sporting director Merijn Zeeman said. “His contribution is always very important in the team, but then of course he has to be completely fit. Unfortunately, we had to conclude together today that this is insufficiently the case, after Covid. He now needs to recover properly and will therefore not start. Fortunately, we have a good replacement ready with Bart Lemmen.”
