Sepp Kuss has ruled out competing at the Giro d’Italia next year, as the exemplary super domestique turned Vuelta a España champion adjusts to a newfound mentality.
Kuss competed in all three Grand Tours this year, assisting Jumbo-Visma teammates Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard to overall victory at the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, respectively, before unexpectedly claiming the red jersey in Spain ahead of the pair.
The 29-year-old, who was in Singapore on the weekend for the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium, is yet to formalise his race programme for next season but doesn’t intend to put his body and mind through them all.
“I think next year it will be a bit too soon to do three again,” Kuss said.
“I’d like to do the Giro again but next year feels like a bit too many TT kilometres and also it’s nice to go to the Tour and focus on that.”
Kuss has clocked some frequent flyer miles during the off-season, returning to the US for a holiday, where locals in Durango, Colorado, celebrated his Vuelta success, before heading to Southeast Asia for a set of promotional activities selling the region and the sport, plus Sunday’s showcase criterium.
“It’s been a long off-season, which has been really nice, just relaxing, still riding the bike for fun,” he said.
“It’s easy to stay motivated when everything is going well, so hopefully things keep going well.
“I think this last season just gave me a lot of confidence and I hope to take that into the next season. Discovering that I could go over my mental or physical limits, and this season I could surprise myself by doing three Grand Tours, by winning the third one, and being really consistent in all three of them, when I know that I can do that, that gives me a lot of confidence.”
The approachable and well-spoken American admits he didn’t enter the Vuelta with the aim of winning the general classification.
Kuss finished the Tour with a swollen and bruised face, lacerations around his eyes from a crash on the penultimate stage stitched back together. He was still wearing bandages over what are now hardly visible scars when the Vuelta started weeks later. Jumbo-Visma selected Roglič, who underwent full preparation for a title tilt with a series of planned altitude camps and so forth, and during the Tour announced Vingegaard would also go, with trainer Tim Heemskerk unsure how the Dane would fare so soon after claiming the yellow jersey.
Kuss won stage six from a breakaway – his first individual victory since the 2021 Tour – and two days later assumed the leader’s jersey. His closest rivals would become his own teammates.
“I went into it thinking of just helping when it was necessary and saving energy in the other moments,” Kuss admitted. “But after the stage where I was in the breakaway, and I realised I was close to being in the red jersey, I thought I would try and go in the red jersey for as long as possible. And then when I realised that I was riding really well the further I got the longer I wanted to hang onto the jersey.”
Jumbo-Visma ultimately paid a price for its dominance at the Vuelta and the Grand Tours this season. Roglic negotiated an exit and signed with Bora-Hansgrohe for 2024, months after team management at the Tour claimed Vingegaard had not rubberstamped his authority on the event with a second consecutive yellow jersey victory.
“The Tour de France is the only race he hasn’t won and in order to win the Tour, oftentimes you need to be the sole leader and have the whole team behind you,” Kuss said of Roglic’s departure.
“Also, with Primož and Jonas, Jonas has won the last two Tours and it’s difficult to have that sole leadership when there’s someone on the team that’s also the Tour winner. It was a normal direction for things to go.”
There was much conjecture about Jumbo-Visma’s approach at the Vuelta. The proven winners eventually became the help, and the help became the proven winner amid a lot of public pressure. Often in cycling, you are one or the other, rarely both.
Kuss hasn’t bought into any of the Vuelta debate in Singapore, his answers as affable as the locals and sanitary as the streets, where chewing gum and spitting are finable offences, and residents admonish tourists who don’t clean up after themselves at hawker centres - large, bustling outdoor food courts serving up grilled seafood, meats, soups and other rich delights.
“It was a big advantage in the middle of the race when we had direct rivals but then later, when we didn’t have any, then it became not a problem but too much of a good thing,” Kuss said of the three-prong attack that eventuated.
“There were never any arguments. I think especially among us three there was always understanding. I understand - and understood - everyone’s position and from the outside it’s always easier to make of it different things, but in the end, we were all racing our bikes.
“And the main thing is there were no other rivals except us, so that made it seem more of an internal fight, but there was no fighting. There was an understanding, and everyone wants to get the most out of themselves and I think it was only magnified by the fact there was no [Tadej] Pogacar; Remco [Evenepoel] was out of the picture. There were really strong rivals in the race, but they were not our direct rivals.”
The Vuelta win may prove to be a one-off for Kuss, or it may prove to be the start of a new chapter, with Roglic’s exit also presumably adding to the scope of increased personal opportunity.
“Now there will be more races that are more open for me, I can go for stages or go for the GC - it’s possible,” he said.
Kuss had to adopt a different mindset at the Vuelta but adjusted to it well.
“It was a unique race for me because I went in without any expectations, any pressure,” said Kuss.
“But I realised after holding the jersey for many days, and every day that goes with that, I realised I could handle that stress and also everything that was going on, or things that were said in the media, I could handle all that. It was new for me, and I didn’t know how it would be, all the extra commitments, but in the end, I just had to focus on one thing, which was doing my best every single day and keeping it simple.
“It took more energy. I wouldn’t be able to do it for three Grand Tours for every race that way, but I realise how much more energy it takes being a leader than in my normal role. It was nice.”
Ahead of 2024, Kuss, who seamlessly flips between speaking his native English and fluent Spanish with media, is not demanding protected roles. He could make a case for being the most grounded Grand Tour champion. But he does appear to be entertaining the idea of a more multifaceted position in his all-conquering team.
“I definitely prefer being in the position of a leader and winning in the end but only if I know it’s really worth it, or if I’m really in a position to win,” Kuss said. “Otherwise, it’s better to help someone.”
