Star US climber Sepp Kuss completed the set of Grand Tour stage wins with victory on an epic queen stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia in the Dolomites, continuing Visma-Lease a Bike's total domination of the 2026 edition.
Adding to his two wins from the Vuelta and one from the Tour, Kuss was part of a 26-rider breakaway that moved away on the first categorised climb of the brutal day, but had to bide his time before catching and attacking away from Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) on the Piani di Pezzè summit finish.
Ciccone had got away on the long descent off the penultimate climb and started the final run for home with a minute lead on the chasing remnants of the break. Kuss surged with Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in his wheel to try and chase Ciccone down, but no one could match his pace as he rode across to the home rider and dropped him to win solo.
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Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) paced his final climb brilliantly to finish second on the stage, gaining important time on GC. After being denied again after so many days of trying, Ciccone was third at the line.
"I knew he would accelerate over the top for the mountain's points and it looked like he was already slowing up over the top. Then he looked, and there was a gap. By the bottom of the climb, there was a gap of one minute, so I thought 'oh it's over'," admitted Kuss of the moment Ciccone went.
"To be honest, I was a bit demotivated because I thought it was over, but I just tried to focus on doing the fastest climb possible. A nice win for me."
This was Visma's fifth stage win of the race, adding to champion-elect Jonas Vingegaard's four summit finish wins. On a perfect day for the Dutch team, Vingegaard marked every move made by Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to maintain his strong hold over the pink jersey.
Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) was the big loser from the group of favourites, dropping off the podium as he was leapfrogged by the improving Hindley, with just one more mountain stage tomorrow to try and salvage third place.
Kuss said how completing the set of GT stage wins was never "the primary goal," with his full focus on supporting Vingegaard's GC ambitions. But after the Dane took full control of pink with victories on the first four summit finishes, he spoke openly about how he would be proud to help get a stage win for Kuss of Davide Piganzoli.
"The main challenge was to win the pink jersey with Jonas, and so far it's looking good, but when they told me the other night that I had the chance to go in the break, I knew I had to seize the opportunity," said Kuss.
"To be honest, it's something I always dreamt of, but every year it's getting harder and harder. I keep progressing, but so does everyone else, so every year that goes by, I think it's going to be even harder to win a stage in the Giro to complete all three, but I just can't believe it."
Kuss got emotional during his post-stage interview when speaking about having his family at the finish line. He dedicated his victory to the people he doesn't get to see during his busy schedule, training and racing all over the world.
"Lots of suffering. I knew I had to push it all the way to the line, and I went pretty deep in the middle, but I knew my mother was going to be standing 500 metres from the finish," he said with a smile, before choking up.
"Big shoutout to her and my family, because I really only see them a few weeks every year. It's hard to stay in contact with everybody who's far away, but it was really nice to have her there. I'm always thinking of my family and my friends that I don't get to see so much. This is for them."
More to come
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