Sepp Kuss finished stage 20 of the Tour de France disappointed, having finished third after cresting the Col de Sarenne in third, but it could have been so much worse.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider crashed twice in the final 8km of the day on the descent from the Sarenne before the small climb up to Alpe d'Huez, with the second crash looking particularly terrifying.

First, the American crashed as he left a dark tunnel with 7.1km to go, but then with just over 4km to go, he misjudged a corner on a fast descent and was saved from plummeting over a sheer drop just by safety netting on the bend.

The heart-stopping moment allowed Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) to catch and overtake him, and win the stage, his second in three days. To add insult to injury, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) passed him in the finale.

The only consolation was third place, and a combativity prize. The other good news is that the man from Colorado seemed unhurt by the incidents, but he came close to disaster. The prize of a second Tour stage win was on the line, hence the pressure Kuss put on himself on that descent.

"I wasn't entirely clear-headed," Kuss told France Télévisions post-race. "The effort was incredible. I was trying to maintain the gap with Richard Carapaz. I knew he wasn't far behind and that he would fight to the end. I was trying to gain as much time as possible on every corner."

"I wasn't too scared," he continued. "I thought I'd read the right line. Luckily, there were nets. It would have been nice to finish this Tour on a positive note. But I managed to finish the stage, and we're satisfied with the fighting spirit we showed in this Tour. We fought to the very end."

"I was so on the limit, I misjudged the corner a bit," he added to the Tour's media team. "First in the tunnel, and then after that I was still trying to make up too much time and I misjudged the corner. 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.

"That’s how it goes, you can't always have good luck, of have everything in your way. We can be proud of the way we fought as a team. After Jonas [Vingegaard] was out the race, we made the most of every single day. I felt the support of the guys during the stage, I couldn't pay it back but we can be proud of our effort."

To dampen what could have a been a perfect day even more, the day's jury bulletin revealed that Kuss had been fined 1500 CHF ($1,832) for littering.

The exact rule reads: "Rider or team staff disposing of waste or other objects outside of litter zones, or not returned to team or organisation staff, not collected by team staff, thrown at a spectator."

He did it twice, according to the report; for the first offence, he was fined 25 UCI points and 500 CHF, for the second offence, 50 UCI points, 1000 CHF and 60 seconds in the general classification.

Freed from domestique duties, with his teammate Jonas Vingegaard at home with a broken collarbone, Sepp Kuss sensed glory on Alpe d’Huez.

It’s been five years since the sport’s favourite helper won a stage of the Tour de France, and there was no better place to finally win in the Tour again than atop the mythical Alpe, the climb every single cyclist, amateur or pro, dreams of being triumphant on.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Kuss did everything right at the start. He was part of the huge 42-man breakaway, and was present when that group was whittled down to 15 on the penultimate climb. At the bottom of the iconic Alpe, only six remained, and one of them was Kuss.

Before long, there were only three: Kuss, stage 18 winner Richard Carapaz, and the best French-placed rider in the race: Lenny Martinez. Either of them could win.

Neither of them would.

The trio all attacked one another, but it was in vain: with 3km remaining, Tadej Pogačar, he who spoils so many dreams, passed them all and rode to his fifth stage victory in the race. Martinez held on for second, Carapaz third, but Kuss drifted back to fourth.

If it seemed inevitable that Pogačar would win, and in doing so smash Marco Pantani’s record, Kuss believed that the break had a chance of resisting the race leader. But their advantage to the yellow jersey at the foot of the Alpe wasn’t big enough.

“I knew he [Pogačar] would probably go from the bottom so with that you probably need six minutes or something,” Kuss said.

“We had a good selection at the bottom, but when I saw the gap at the bottom, I knew it would be tight. It was a bit stop-start riding, a lot of attacking.

“It was just everyone on their own, nobody wanted to commit fully. It’s still a climb where you get quite a bit of drafting, so it was pretty tactical at the end.

“I just tried to ride my own rhythm. I’m not as explosive as those other guys, but I’m happy with the ride. I tried to keep it steady, but it’s hard. There are all the moments when you think, ‘Now I want to go with speed, or go when they’re finished with their effort’. Then you get another narrow part. So it’s hard to time it.”

Despite not pulling off the win, Kuss was content with how he performed. ”I’m happy with the ride. I feel good,” the American said.

The Tour returns to the Alpe tomorrow. One more chance for a Kuss victory.

For a rider who is one of the best climbers in the world, a Vuelta a España winner, and a member of one of the most dominant teams in cycling, Sepp Kuss remains an incredibly likeable man.

The 31-year-old, who has spent most of his career in service to starrier teammates like Primož Roglič or Jonas Vingegaard, always manages to seem relatable, despite being so good at riding a bike.

Therefore, it was heartening to watch the Visma-Lease a Bike rider climb to glory on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia on Friday, as he completed the set of Grand Tour stage victories. His first Vuelta win came seven years ago, his triumph at the Tour de France two seasons later, so his victory was testimony to determination, grit, and plugging away.

He attacked and caught another crowd favourite, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) on the final climb in the Dolomites, but that didn't diminish his likeable win. When he's at his best, let off the leash, there's barely anyone in the world that makes riding up a mountain look as effortless as Kuss, it's where he's at home.

As ever, as a selfless domestique de luxe, Kuss was adamant post-stage that he didn't come into the Giro to win a stage, but to help his teammate, Vingegaard, to the overall crown. That all but achieved, however, he was given the chance.

"To be honest, it was never the primary goal, the main challenge was to win the pink jersey with Jonas," Kuss explained on TV. "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."

Five years on from completing two thirds of the trilogy, it took a lot of effort to get to this point, he said: "It’s something I've always dreamt of, but every year it gets harder and harder. I keep progressing and getting better but so does everyone else. Every year that goes by I think it’s going to get harder to win a stage of the Giro, to complete all three, but yeah, I just can’t believe it."

He can believe it now, but it was not an easy ride to the finish, despite that serene climbing style, which got a bit ragged by the end. Asked what the final kilometre was like, when he was surely ahead, he said: "Lots of suffering, because I knew I had to push it all the way to the line, and I went pretty deep in the middle."

What made it all the more special was that the man from Durango, Colorado, was joined in Italy for his moment of triumph by his mother. All top cyclists live like monks, but those from other continents racing in Europe have to live more than a few hours from home, too, and an emotional Kuss made clear that this life is not easy.

"I knew my mother was going to be standing 500m from the finish, and a big shout out to her and my family," he said, holding back tears. "I only see them a few weeks of the year, and it’s hard to stay in contact with everyone that’s far away. It’s really nice to see her there, and I’m always thinking of my family and my friends that I don’t get to see so much, so this one’s for them."

Grand Tour trilogy complete, interview done, Kuss was free to embrace his mother, in the knowledge that all that work was worthwhile. It was a moment to realise pro cyclists are human too, just incredibly powerful ones; the scene just added to his charm, too. Congratulations, Sepp.

Sepp Kuss conquered the Dolomites on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia to take a debut stage win at the Italian Grand Tour after a dramatic Friday.

The American outlasted the rest of his breakaway companion to triumph atop the Piani di Pezzè as his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Jonas Vingegaard all but sealed overall victory at the Giro.

Behind, Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) was second, gaining time on his other general classification rivals, as Giulio Ciccone, also of Lidl-Trek, finished third. It looked like a time that Ciccone would take the stage win, after he launched a move over the penultimate climb of the Passo Falzarego, having already taking the maximum mountains points over the top of the Passo Giau. Ciccone therefore won the Cima Coppi, the prize for conquering the highest point of the Giro.

However, Kuss rode hard in the valley and caught his Italian rival on the climb to be along in the last kilometre.

"Not especially," Kuss said when asked whether he thought he would catch Ciccone. "I knew he would accelerate over the top for the mountain points, and it looked like he was already slowing up, but then he looked and there was a gap, and by the bottom of the climb he had a minute, and I thought it was over.

"To be honest, I was a bit demotivated because I thought it was over, but I just tried to focus on doing the fastest time possible, on a steep climb. A nice one for me."

"To be honest, it was never the primary goal, the main challenge was to win the pink jersey with Jonas," he said. "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."

Vingegaard finished alongside Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), to also gain on GC. Hindley replaced Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) on the podium, while Gee replaced former pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) in the top five.

On the final climb, Gall attacked but was matched on every pedal stroke by Vingegaard, who has a four-minute advantage on him, while Hindley followed, all moving away from Arensman, who lost just over a minute to the trio.

After stage wins at both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, as well as the overall at the latter, Kuss added a Giro stage to his palmarès to complete the set.

His victory also meant that a rider in the yellow of Visma-Lease a Bike (four for Vingegaard, now one for Kuss) has won every mountain-top finish of this year's Giro, in a clear representation of the team's dominance at this year's Giro.

Kuss joined the day's large breakaway with around 100km to go on the first climb of the day, on the Passo Duran, which was around 26 riders. The race was shaken up on the next climb, the Passo Giau (9.8km at 9.3%), as GC contender Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) attacked, followed by Gee-West, which meant there was action with well over 50km left to go of the stage.

Gee-West was the main beneficiary of this, as he moved up on GC, and was close to stage winner Kuss. Ciccone gained mountains points too, as a result of his exploits, and moved into the lead of the blue jersey competiton.

"It was super hard, I was just going to stay with the GC guys and then Tudor pulled a good move with Michael jumping and then a bunch of their guys dropping back and pulling him across to the break," Gee-West said. "To be honest, I thought we had the stage when Giulio went on the descent and there was a bit of disorder behind. Hats off to Sepp, he pulled in the valley, I was sitting in the wheels, and he still rode away from me."

Saturday sees the last mountain day at this year's Giro, a final chance for the GC to be shaken up.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2026, Stage 19: Feltre > Alleghe (Piani di Pezzè) (151km)

1. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike), in 4:28:33
2. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, 13s
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek), +36s
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +39s
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
6. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +43s
7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:06
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:11
9. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +1:19
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, at same time

General Classification after stage 19

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 75:13:16
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:04
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +5:33
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +6:31
5. Alfonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +7:26
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:50
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8:29
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +9:01
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +11:19

The 2025 Tour de France gets underway in Lille, France on Saturday, July 5, with a peloton of 184 riders spread across 23 teams. This year, only five American riders are among them, but based on their strong performances of late, this small contingent holds great promise.

As the tireless lieutenant for Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss is back for his fifth Tour after missing last year’s event due to a COVID-19 infection. Kuss and the Visma | Lease a Bike squad will be joined by fellow American Matteo Jorgensen who recently extended his contract with the team, and will be one to watch for stage victories.

Spread across other teams are Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), who is lining up for his sixth Tour and will likely be on the hunt for his first Tour de France stage win; American national road race champion Quinn Simmons for Lidl-Trek and Movistar's Will Barta, who's making his Tour de France debut.

Meet the small but mighty U.S. contingent competing in this year's Tour de France.

Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a bike)

After an unfortunate run-in with Covid in 2024, Sepp Kuss is back for his fifth Tour de France, and 14th Grand Tour. The climbing specialist has long been the team’s tireless lieutenant and crucial domestique in the mountains.

In 2023 Kuss became the first American to win a Grand Tour in over a decade when he won the Vuelta a España, proving that he’s perfectly capable of winning himself. He’s also the only American lining up this year who’s won a Tour de France stage before, climbing to victory solo on top of the Col de Beixalis in 2021.

Whether he’ll get a chance to go hunt for another stage win is yet to be seen. In all likelihood he’ll be in full service of Vingegaard and the team’s attempt at a third Tour de France overall victory.

Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a bike)

If Sepp Kuss is considered Jonas Vingegaard's lieutenant, then Matteo Jorgenson may just be his sergeant. The 26-year-old Idahoan has rapidly become one of the sport’s rising stars, and on a smaller team, he'd likely be the GC lead instead of riding in service of others.

Only in his second season with the powerhouse team, Jorgensen has shone in yellow, claimed back-to-back overall victories at Paris-Nice, a win at Dwars door Vlaanderen, second overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and an eighth-place finish at the Tour de France in 2024.

Lining up for his fourth Tour, look for him at Vingegaard's side when the roads point up. And who knows, if he's given free range, he may just get a chance for stage victory himself.

Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)

Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss aren't the only Americans flying up the French mountains this summer. . Neilson Powless, gearing up for his sixth Tour de France, is poised to be a key playmaker for EF Education-EasyPost. In 2023, the Californian excited the American fans by wearing the polka dotted King of the Mountain's jersey for 12 stages before relinquishing it to Giulio Ciccone in the final week.

Due to a nagging knee injury, we saw rather little of him in the 2024 season, but if he’s healthy and finds his rhythm, don’t be surprised to see him in breakaways, hunting for stage wins and maybe even pulling on a jersey of some kind, if only for a day.

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek)

Fresh off the biggest win of his career, a stage victory at the Tour de Suisse, Quinn Simmons rolls into his third Tour de France with momentum and confidence. He’ll be easy to spot in the bunch: as the newly crowned U.S. national road racing champion, Simmons will be wearing the Stars and Stripes jersey.

Expect the 24-year-old to do the heavy lifting for Lidl-Trek in the sprint stages early on, setting tempo and keeping things under control. But don’t count him out later in the race. With his climbing form on the rise and a taste for aggressive racing, Simmons could seize a golden opportunity to join a breakaway or two.

Will Barta (Movistar)

Making his Tour de France debut, Will Barta will be riding in support of Movistar’s GC leader, Enric Mas.

Like his fellow Americans, Barta’s primary task will be to guide his team leader through the mountains—setting tempo, chasing moves and helping keep Movistar in GC contention when the road turns steep.

At 29, Barta has built his career as a dependable domestique, but 2024 marked a breakthrough as he claimed his first pro win at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, launching an audacious 80-kilometer solo breakaway to take the stage.

Emulating or even exceeding his spectacular 2023 season was always going to be a tall order for Sepp Kuss, but the Visma-Lease a Bike rider would have preferred 2024 to go a little more according to plan.

The American, who won the 2023 Vuelta a España despite not being one of his team’s protected GC riders at the start, struggled for consistency throughout last season and missed the Tour de France after contracting Covid.

Though he won a stage and the GC of the Vuelta a Burgos, he failed to defend his Vuelta title, finishing 14th and more than 20 minutes adrift of the eventual victor Primož Roglič.

“It wasn’t the best season for me. Until then I’d always had pretty good years without any bad luck or illnesses, so it was the first season that I had any setbacks,” the Coloradan, 30, said.

“I was happy to win at least one race and I can be happy with that, but overall it was a shame to miss the Tour and everything that comes with that. Not every year is a perfect upward trajectory. You have to roll with the bad luck and normal setbacks when they happen.

“As a cyclist you always need a certain level of confidence based on what you’ve done in the past. Training is one thing, but when the results don’t meet your expectations, it’s always difficult.

“I think that’s normal for any athlete to have to bounce back from that. It was no disaster or anything, but I know it’s hard to always be at your top level or to stay there.”

Kuss’s 2025 program won’t be too dissimilar to what it usually is: after racing the Volta ao Algarve, Volta a Catalunya and Itzulia Basque Country in the early spring, he’ll be one of Jonas Vingegaard’s key helpers in the Tour de France, before then returning to the Vuelta for an eighth successive appearance.

“There’s no need to change the recipe,” he said. “The main objectives are the Grand Tours. I want to be at my best in those two races. I know for the spring I am not always at my best, but I use those races as a building block for the summer races.

“This year I’ll have a longer and slower build up. Last year was shorter but more intensive in the beginning. In the first races I felt good, but then I tapered off later. I just have to go to the first races without any expectation, see how it is, and with the focus always on the summer.”

The unassuming Kuss, the first American to win a three-week race since Chris Horner also won the Vuelta 10 years earlier, indicated that he was prepared to park his own GC ambitions in 2025.

“It's a role I’ve never really been in aside from the Vuelta last year and even in the 2023 Vuelta it was never remotely on my radar to be a leader in a Grand Tour, but it turned out that way,” he said. “I wouldn’t say upfront I am looking for leadership in a Grand Tour, or looking for the opposite.

“For me, if there are opportunities that come along the way, I’ll take them like I have in the past, but also in the past whenever I’ve performed it’s never been in a way that upfront it was known that I’d be the one to perform.

“I take every race in my stride and see where I can get an opportunity. I’m not looking to overtake anybody within the team. We have some super good riders and I want to help them first and then we’ll see what I can get out of it for myself.”

In returning to be first and foremost a super mountain domestique, Kuss said: “It’s a role I really like, and it’s a role that’s a lot easier than being a leader in a race. I think it’s a role that I can do quite well, and do it comfortably and enjoy it.”

His personal goal for the forthcoming season is to be at his best when he needs to be. “I want to be more consistent, stay healthy, and have good luck,” he said.

“Nowadays in cycling, you need each day and each week to build on, because if you miss a little bit, you notice it immediately in the races unless you have crazy talent, like some guys.”

Sepp Kuss (Visma - Lease a Bike) today rode himself into the leader's jersey at the Vuelta a Burgos stage race today, showing that he's in good form and ready to defend his Vuelta a España title later this month.

Vuelta a Burgos is a five-day stage race in northern Spain. It is often considered a preparation race for the last Grand Tour of the season, which kicks off on August 17 this year. 

The 29-year-old American won the third stage of the race, the Queen Stage, which culminated with an 11-kilometre hors catégorie climb up to Neila. Kuss and teammate Cian Uijtdebroeks were delivered to the base of the climb by the team's domestiques to do what they do best. After Uijtdebroeks failed to shake off any race favourites during his attack, it was Kuss' turn to give it a go. None of the rivals managed to follow his pace, and he arrived at the mountaintop finish solo. In doing so, he claimed the colourful leader's jersey and now leads the General Classification by 13 seconds over Ecuadorian Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA).

More than just a stage win, his performance today shows that he's fully recovered from the Covid infection that saw him miss out on the Tour de France in July and on track to defend the red jersey at the Vuelta a España.

"I'm very happy with this," said Kuss post-race. "It was a tough day, partly because of the heat. On the final climb I was struggling quite a bit, but I wanted to try at least once. When I saw I had created a gap, I went as hard as I could. I'm glad it worked out and I want to thank my teammates for all the work they did." 

In June, Kuss abandoned the Critérium du Dauphiné after stage seven with Covid symptoms and failed to recover in time for the Tour. Vuelta a Burgos is his first race back and is meant to serve as the final bit of preparation for his leadership role at the Vuelta a España. He crashed on stage 2 in Burgos but showed little lingering effects during today's performance. 

"I struggled for quite a long time with the after-effects of covid. Fortunately, I am now back on the level, and my confidence is back. I'm ready to defend my title in the Vuelta," Kuss said.

Last year, Kuss became the first American male in a decade to win the Maillot Rojo and only the second American male rider to do so. After being lauded as one of the best climbers and helpers in the peloton for years, this was Kuss' first shot at his own glory and he made it count. Kuss earned the red jersey after stage eight and managed to keep it all the way to Madrid 13 stages later.

This year, he hopes to repeat that performance. 

The 2024 Vuelta a España starts on Saturday, August 17, with a time trial in Lisbon, Portugal. The race will once again be fought in the mountains, as there's just one flat stage in the entire 21 days of racing. The 2024 route is bookended by a short individual time trial on either end, but for Kuss, a master of the mountains, the mountain-heavy course does look promising. 

You'll be able to follow the race with stage-by-stage coverage right here on Cycling Weekly. 

Sepp Kuss will race to defend his Vuelta a España title come August 17. After a Covid infection derailed his Tour de France appearance, the American is recovered, training well and will race the Spanish Grand Tour, Visma - Lease a Bike coach Grischa Niermann has told Velo.

Last year, Kuss became the first American male in a decade to win the Maillot Rojo and only the second American male rider to do so.

The 29-year-old Coloradoan has long been lauded as one of the best climbers and helpers in the peloton – so much so that his teammates nicknamed him "the mailman" because he "always delivers" as a super-domestique, riding in service of his teammates. 

He has been instrumental in the success of Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglič, but in Spain last summer, Kuss finally got a shot at his own glory and made it count. Kuss earned the red jersey after stage eight and managed to keep it all the way to Madrid 13 stages later.

Cycling fans worldwide loved this underdog story and squarely placed themselves behind the super domestique under the "Team Kuss" banner.

In his eighth season as a professional, Kuss showed himself, his team, and the world that he has what it takes to be a team leader when given the opportunity. But opportunities don't come often on a powerhouse team like Visma - Lease a Bike.

Yet, rather than seeking leadership opportunities at lesser teams, Kuss extended his Visma - Lease a Bike contract through 2027, embracing being the "second card" to Vingegaard after Roglič went to Bora, convinced he'll be given more chances to ride for himself.

But these opportunities –given or taken– have yet to materialise this season. He used the spring stage races to get in shape, with apparent little expectation from his team to perform, as the big focus was on the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.

At the Tour, Kuss was once again enlisted to ride in service of the defending, two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard—the valued mountain lieutenant reporting for duty. 

He didn't get the chance, however. Kuss left the Critérium du Dauphiné after stage seven earlier in June with Covid symptoms and failed to recover in time for the Tour.

In his absence, a peak-fit Tadej Pogačar is making it awfully difficult for Vingegaard to deliver his team the three-peat they are looking for. While missed in France, Kuss has used this downtime to fully recover from the Covid virus, train at altitude and prepare for the August racing. He also shared some joyous news of a personal nature: the 29-year-old and his wife, Noemi Ferré, are expecting their first child. 

"He's good again, and he's training well," confirmed Niermann, who fully expects Kuss to race in August and take the opportunity to defend his Vuelta crown.

The 2024 Vuelta a España starts on Saturday, August 17, with a time trial in Lisbon, Portugal. This year's race will once again fought in the mountains, as there's just one flat stage in the entire 21 days of racing. The 2024 route is bookended by a short individual time trial on either end, but for Kuss, a master of the mountains, the mountain-heavy course does look promising. 

You'll be able to follow the race with stage-by-stage coverage right here on Cycling Weekly. 

Sepp Kuss has urged fans not to read too much into his spring performances, as the American enters a new chapter of increased expectations following his win in the Vuelta a España last year.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider is currently racing the Volta a Catalunya and sits eighth on GC with three stages remaining, a position he finished in during February’s Volta a Algarve. 

Tadej Pogačar looks to be running away with the win at Catalunya, so a better barometer to compare Kuss’ form to is that of Soudal-QuickStep’s Mikel Landa who is second overall; in the race’s two high mountain stages, Kuss has ceded 1-05, including bonus seconds, to the Spaniard.

Kuss’s main season objectives are the Tour de France and Vuelta, and although he will be lining up at both the Itzulia Basque Country and Critérium du Dauphiné, neither he nor his team are demanding that he achieves podium finishes in those races.

“I’d love to win or do better here but I know the level in these one week races, especially in the spring, is always so high that you can’t achieve things that aren’t possible,” the 29-year-old told Cycling Weekly ahead of stage four of Catalunya.

“You’ve always got to go into it hoping for the best and not giving up beforehand, but I know for myself physically and mentally that the best races for me are the Grand Tours and those are still pretty far away so it’s hard to take too much stock of what’s happening now.”

Kuss’ coach, Mathieu Heijboer, has previously said that making Kuss a leader at one week races is not the approach that would elicit the best form out of the Coloradan, although there is clearly some hope from the team that he can be consistent at all races, as evidenced by him wearing number 11 in northern Spain, denoting that he is their principal rider.

Is managing external expectations the biggest task for Kuss this season? “I don’t think it’s so much of a challenge because I know what I’ve already done and I can be really happy with that,” he answered.

“There’s always expectations for everybody, but for me it’s only on myself. I have to concentrate on feeling good and doing my best.

“I’ve not done the training I would do before the big races yet, but already I’m in good shape so for me that’s really nice. I feel really good without doing the real hard training and it shows that I still have room to grow.”

“Am I capable of winning the Tour de France? Yes, why not? You have to shoot for that.” These were the words of Sepp Kuss in an interview with Wielerflits, published on Tuesday.

It’s a fair statement, and one that shows a shift in the American’s mindset. Now a Grand Tour winner himself, having won last year’s Vuelta a España, Kuss’s role is transforming, from a selflessly loyal domestique, to a rider with his own GC ambitions. He believes that he can win big, and who could blame him? 

Kuss’s Vuelta victory was an instant hit with the fans. It marked his first stage race win at WorldTour level, and only his second after the 2018 Tour of Utah. Crucially, though, it showed him as an assured GC leader.

For the 29-year-old, it left him hungry for more. “Of course I want that,” he said when asked if he’d like to have his hands in the air more often. “But it’s not something I have to do. The Vuelta victory has made me have more confidence in myself. But I don’t feel the need to do something I’m not capable of.” 

What about the Tour? “Yes, why not?”

To gauge Kuss’s chances of winning the yellow jersey this summer, first we have to look at the race route. The mountains are the American’s bread and butter - few climb better than him - and the road goes uphill from day one in Florence, Italy, with the Col du Galibier coming as early as stage four. A total of five summit finishes will play into his hands. The time trials, however, less so. 

Kuss will face two tests against the clock this July, albeit ones with climbs. The first arrives on day seven, through the Bourgogne vineyards, and packs a measly 1.6km ascent at 6.1%. The second is the race decider, from Monaco to Nice on the final day, up and over the 10km-long Col d’Èze. Kuss should fare well - but will he fare better than his team-mate, time trial and climbing sensation Jonas Vingegaard?

The Vingegaard question is the real hurdle to Kuss’s Tour success. Forget beating the other GC contenders, first he’ll have to win the hierarchy battle within his own team. 

“Strategically speaking, it doesn’t hurt to start with two leaders,” Kuss told Wielerflits. Visma-Lease a Bike has tried this before, in fairness, and with success, too. At the Tour in 2022, Primož Roglič wore the number one dossard, flanked by Vingegaard, who went on to win after the injured Slovenian withdrew. 

The same duo set out to share leadership at last year’s Vuelta, as well, both finishing on the podium behind Kuss. 

Still, there were murmurs - loud ones too - that Roglič and Vingegaard weren’t so content playing second fiddle to their domestique in Spain. They even appeared to attack Kuss, leaving him floundering in a bid to hang onto his red jersey on the Altu de L'Angliru. He did, and Roglič left the team for Bora-Hansgrohe at the end of the season. 

Some argue that Vingegaard could have won that Vuelta, had he not ultimately decided to support Kuss. By that same line of thinking, who’s to say Kuss couldn’t have won the last few Tours, had he not ridden in support of Vingegaard? In any case, the what-iffery is futile. 

With Roglič's departure, Kuss expects there will be “more options” for him going forward, “more room” to take on a leadership role. “I think Jonas and I can also work well together,” the American explained. “We have similar qualities in the mountains. It is always good for us to have two riders at the top of the rankings.” 

Vingegaard, however, might see it differently. Will the Dane, the winner of the last two Tours, want to share leadership in the most important race on his calendar? Probably not, especially if the rider he's sharing with is his most valued mountain lieutenant. Will the team really want to upset a winning formula? 

This, in the end, is likely where Kuss's yellow jersey hopes fizzle out. As long as Vingegaard is competitive, the hierarchy looks set in the Dane's favour at Visma-Lease a Bike. He's under contract until the end of 2028, too. 

That said, it's testament to Kuss that he wants to win cycling's biggest prize, and believes in his ability to do so. For now, though, at least, a podium finish might be more on the cards. 

Nestled amidst the Pyrenees, where the borders of France and Spain meet, lies the tiny principality of Andorra. Its high-altitude settlements, dramatic mountain peaks and ribbons of quiet, skyward roads offer the perfect training ground for a burgeoning cycling community that currently hosts some 86 WorldTour riders. Among them is American climbing specialist Sepp Kuss, who lives in Andorra year-round with his wife, Noemi Ferré –a former professional rider herself– and their dog Bimba.

"It's surprisingly peaceful," says the 29-year-old Durango native and Vuelta a España champion. He chose Andorra for its world-class climbs (on which he holds more KOMs than anyone else) and the ability to train and race at altitude.

Spotted from his deck view, Col de Beixalis looms as a daily source of inspiration. It's on this 8.2-kilometer climb that Kuss clinched stage 15 of the 2021 Tour de France, outpacing Alejandro Valverde to the finish line – a pinnacle of his career at the time and perhaps a prelude of what has since followed.

"It's always easier going up it when I know what happened there a few years ago, and it's nice when you can relive those moments," Kuss shares as he hosts Marc Figueras from Thomson Bike Tours at his home during the waning weeks of winter downtime before his return to action in service of the Visma-Lease a Bike team (formerly Jumbo-Visma).

From his favorite foods (Mexican) and music (country and reggaeton) to his career-defining 2023 season and ambitions ahead, this exclusive interview offers a deeper insight into the worker-bee-turned-underdog-GC champ who stole our hearts last August.

Visma - Lease a Bike's Second Card

Kuss' Vuelta success was overdue.

The so-called "Eagle of Durango" has long been celebrated for being one of the best climbers in the peloton and an indispensable helper in the Grand Tour success of Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard. Through unforeseen circumstances, Kuss finally got a shot at his own glory in Spain and made it count. He earned the red jersey after stage eight and, despite some questionable team antics, managed to keep it all the way to Madrid, 13 stages later. In doing so, Kuss became the first American to win a Grand Tour in a decade and the second American ever to win the Vuelta. The helper turned hero overnight, surprising even himself.

"It was only halfway through the Vuelta, after the time trial, where I thought, 'Okay, I think I have the legs to win the race'. But before that, I never had any thoughts about doing my own race or going for my own results. So it was a surprise," says Kuss.

The surprise, however, lay in the opportunity more so than the legs. The watts and the potential were there all season long. 

"Between the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta, all the numbers were the same in terms of the climbing performances," he shares. "For me, the big difference was in the time trial because it was the first time trial I did where there was actually something to lose, where I actually had to really push myself to the limit."

"Once that was done, it was just about being really focused and sharp. It was also the first race where I had an actual need to be really on top of things every single day. So that was, I think, what the team maybe was most surprised about."

While his team, already a stacked powerhouse, realized it had yet another ace in its midst, Kuss walked away with calm confidence. Rather than seeking leadership opportunities at lesser teams, he extended his Visma - Lease a Bike contract through 2027, embracing being the "second card" now that Roglič has gone to Bora.

"I think [the win] showed me that, with that same level of form, I can fight for the Grand Tours. I can be with the best guys. That gives me a lot of confidence. But it also gives me a lot of calm," Kuss says.

"But the team, they've realized what I can do now…and yeah, there's more opportunities, but at the same time, I'm not necessarily looking for absolute leadership or anything like that.

In the end, it's really simple. If you're strong enough, then you will always have those opportunities automatically."

Despite his watershed 2023 season, Kuss' approach to the 2024 season is no different than in the past. His sights are set on another Tour de France and Vuelta a España double, and he's poised to defend his coveted maillot rojo in August.

"I only feel pressure from myself. I never feel it from the team. Of course, they want the best from me, but they don't expect anything that's beyond what I can do," Kuss shares.

"For the big goals, like the Tour, the Vuelta, the Grand Tours, I feel the least pressure because I know that I'm at my best for those races. I don't feel like there's anything else to show or prove. There's no ground to make up because I know if I do my best in training, then whatever is meant to be in the race will come to fruition."

For fun nuggets about his home life and his thoughts on the future of American cycling, be sure to watch the entire 30-minute video above or on YouTube.

As 2023 draws to a close, we thought it was time to reflect on an exciting 2021 of professional cycling, by looking back at our favourite riders of that year, as we looked at our races of the year a couple of days ago. There are no real parameters for any of our choices, it's just down to personal opinion. If you vehemently agree, disagree, or want to suggest something, feel free to email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

Demi Vollering - Adam Becket

There have been times this year where it simply didn’t look like SD Worx could lose a race. The tactic the team used seemed simple enough: one of their star riders would attack, whether that was Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky or Marlen Reusser, and the presence of one of these names - or Lorena Wiebes - in the chasing group would muck any coordination or collaboration up, and the attacker would win. It happened at the Tour of Flanders, when Kopecky won, and it also happened at the Amstel Gold Race, when Vollering won. 

Amstel was part of an historic week for Vollering, the first point in the Ardennes Triple, which she completed by also winning La Flèche Wallonne and then Liège-Bastogne-Liège, becoming only the fourth person, and second woman, to do so in the process. To win any three races in a row is outrageous, but to win three of the hardest one-day races the women’s peloton tackle with in a week is something even more special.

Vollering’s year was not limited to the Ardennes, though, it was a year of dominance, from Strade Bianche all the way to the Tour de Romandie. She proved that she is very much the heir to Annemiek van Vleuten with her triumph at the second Tour de France Femmes, and if the road up to the Lagos de Covadonga had been just a bit longer, she would have won La Vuelta Femenina too. As it is, becoming the first rider to win the Ardennes triple and the Tour in the same year is the kind of thing that makes a rider of the year. And she was second at the World Championships too.

Mathieu van der Poel - Tom Thewlis

The men’s peloton has been blessed with so many wonderful displays of panache this year although one man has consistently performed at the highest of levels throughout. Mathieu van der Poel. 

The road world title that he now holds after his win in the streets of Glasgow was the crowning moment of his year. However, his Paris-Roubaix and Milan-Sanremo wins were exceptional in their own right, particularly the latter, although his performance in Scotland was on another level. 

His late attack summed him up perfectly. It was delivered with brute force and fury which forced a seemingly unassailable gap. The following crash - which left him with a broken shoe - should have been devastating but it was in fact the opposite. It seemed to fill the flying Dutchman with a burning inner rage to turn misfortune into triumph as he remounted his bike, thundered up Montrose Street and powered to victory. 

There are only a handful of riders who could turn that sort of situation into something positive in a matter of just seconds. Van der Poel is one of them, and that performance perfectly encapsulated why he’s my choice for rider of the year. 

Lotte Kopecky - Tom Davidson

No rider has had a season like Lotte Kopecky’s. She won flagship one-day races in the World Championships and the Tour of Flanders, finished second at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, won her first WorldTour stage race at the Simac Ladies Tour, and took two rainbow jerseys on the track. 

Her consistency has been staggering, from winning her opening race day at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February, to finishing on the podium at the European Championships in September.  

Still, it was her performance at the Tour de France Femmes that stands out most to me. Yes, her SD Worx teammate Demi Vollering won, but Kopecky was the star of the week. She took the yellow jersey on stage one, and fought for it all the way to the top of the Col du Tourmalet on the penultimate day. She then crushed the closing time trial to jump from fourth to second on GC. 

For most riders, that race would have been career-defining. For Kopecky, it was merely an amuse-bouche for the three world titles she would claim over the next fortnight. 

Sepp Kuss - James Shrubsall

Backing the underdog is, apparently, a very British thing. But judging by the support for Sepp Kuss as he attempted to hold off his two, more feted co-leaders for GC victory in this year's Vuelta a España, it's much more widespread than that.

Suffice to say, I was one of the many urging on the US rider as he attempted to follow one attack or another from Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard – the team-mates he had so loyally protected and worked for over the years. 

I had a certain level of sympathy for Roglič's view that the road should decide. After all, he had trained very hard to be able to win in moments like these. But, cycling is also about relationships and give and take, and Roglič had, after all, already won one Grand Tour this season.

No one would want to see an obviously weaker rider take the win just for the optics. But Kuss's eventual victory was not that. He was strong till the end – often without the unwavering team support a GC leader would usually be afforded – to take a memorable win. 

As his hero's welcome back in Colorado would attest, it was well earned, well deserved.

Honourable mention: Tadej Pogačar - Adam Becket

How could we have a rider of the year list and not mention Tadej Pogačar? Sure, the Slovenian might not have won the Tour de France for the second year running, but he still won 17 races. If he hadn’t broken his hand at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, an incident that definitely impact his tilt at the Tour, it might have been even more of an historic year. As it is, who else but him could win Paris-Nice, the Tour of Flanders, and finish second at the Tour in the same season? And he won his third Il Lombardia in a row.

Rolling out from the start line of Vuelta a España’s processional final stage on September 17, arm-in-arm with Jumbo-Visma leaders Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, Sepp Kuss celebrated his equally well deserved and unexpected Grand Tour win. In winning the Maillot Rojo, Kuss became the first American to win a Grand Tour in a decade, and the second American ever to win the Spanish tour. 

Kuss has long been celebrated for being one of the best climbers and helpers in the peloton, he’s been instrumental in the success of Vingegaard and Roglič but in Spain Kuss finally got a shot at his own glory and made it count - despite the team’s apparent unwillingness to see the race win go to its domestique instead of its leaders.

Cycling fans love an underdog story, and across the globe, cycling fans cried out over the team’s questionable antics, and squarely placed themselves behind "Team Kuss". Eventually, the team got its act together, and in the end, all three Grand Tour winners stood atop the podium in Madrid.

This victory not only marked a personal achievement for Kuss; it gave a glimmer of hope to American cycling. An ocean away, while Kuss wore red, Americans had woken up early week-after-week to cheer on their beloved yet unlikely hero. Memes and a GC Kuss hashtag circled the internet; Kuss stickers appeared on mailboxes and trailhead signs; posters appeared in bike shops and Kuss supporter tees were quickly printed up. Kuss' win particularly resonated in his hometown of Durango, Colorado, where he was welcomed back by thousands.

The U.S. hadn’t seen this kind of interest – let alone fanfare – around cycling since the days of he-who-must-not-be-named. Kuss’ victory offered a rare moment of hope at a time when American road cycling struggles with dwindling participation numbers and a lack of events in the U.S. Celebrated international races like the Colorado Classic, the Tour of California and the Tour of Utah have all folded in recent years due to lack of financial backing. Today, only four UCI races remain, none of which reach far beyond their local newspapers, let alone offer enough incentive for international stars to cross the waters.

Since that infamous Oprah Winfrey interview in 2013, American fans haven’t had a hero to get behind, and road cycling has been in steady decline. 

Sure, American riders have been netting wins and making some impressive moves, but for America to pay attention to cycling, it needs a true hero. First it was Greg LeMond and then Lance Armstrong. Villain or not, no one can dispute that his victories and cancer story made him a household name and inspired tens of thousands of people to hop on a bike.

Could Kuss be this longed-for hero? Or perhaps it’s Neilson Powless, who sported the polka dot jersey in this year’s Tour de France for 13 days. Or maybe Matteo Jorgenson who so bravely hunted for a stage win on Puy de Dôme only to come up short.

Kuss and his fellow Americans generated a lot of excitement for fans in 2023, and should they be allowed to ride for their own opportunities in the coming season, Americans will eagerly watch on. Only watching may prove impossible. The momentum behind Kuss’ victory was cut short with the news of GCN+’s closure. The streaming service provided a vital link to the sport for fans in a country where cycling isn’t shown on mainstream television. Luckily, however, Max is stepping in to replace at least some of GCN+'s coverage. It'll just mean another subscription to sign up for. 

So for now, road cycling in the U.S. staggers on, but there’s no denying that Kuss’ underdog story captured the hearts of Americans. It may just be a softly glowing ember for now, but it’s been some 15 years since we saw such an exciting contingent of American riders in the WorldTour. If they keep seizing the opportunities, there’s hope their ember can spark a fire in the hearts of American sports fans. 

Coloradan Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) made history in September when he won the 2023 Vuelta a España, becoming the first American in a decade to win a Grand Tour. 

An ocean away, Americans had woken up early week after week to cheer on their beloved yet unlikely winner, but it had been the Spanish fans who were on the receiving end of Kuss' celebratory champagne spray.  

Today, it was America's turn as Durango welcomed home their hero in style.

While the 29-year-old lives in Andorra these days, Kuss' roots and humble beginnings lie in the small mountain town of Durango, Colorado.

Here, thousands crowded the downtown park to show their support of Kuss in person, with some people climbing trees for a better view the Vuelta winner.

The park was a sea of red "GC Kuss" shirts, yellow Jumbo-Visma jerseys and flags celebrating the "Eagle of Durango." 

Legendary cycling announcer Dave Towle ran the stage, introducing several speakers, including the mayor of Durango as well as the leaders of Durango Devo, Kuss' first team, who spoke of Kuss’ early wins, the joy of seeing Kuss succeed at the world's biggest stage and his embodiment of the program's biggest goal: for youngsters to find the joy in cycling.  

“In the back of my mind, I didn’t want to have the red jersey – that seems like a real chore,” recounted Kuss to a laughing crowd.

Kuss earned the red jersey after winning stage eight, taking the lead from Lenny Martinez (Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ). He was then tasked to hold on to it all the way to Madrid, 13 stages later.

Kuss, a super-domestique who's well-praised for helping his teammates win cycling's biggest events but never had the chance himself, shared how he slowly gained confidence in himself. The crowd was enthralled. With each story, the public would burst into yells of support and cheers.

“After being a part of the community for such a long time and over the past few years dragging [my wife] along after long flights, it’s really fun to share Durango with her and the whole community,” concluded Kuss.

At the end of Q&A session, Kuss exited the stage and, what else?, hopped on a bike, leading the downtown bike parade.

As they rolled through downtown Durango, the number of riders was simply immense. Followed closely by the Durango Devo team and hundreds of excited riders, Kuss led out the massive peloton, giving out waves and high-fives to everyone gathered on the street to watch and chanting “Kuss Kuss Kuss!”

Afterward, Kuss held a meet and greet for photos and autographs with a line close to a hundred people long, each hoping to get a poster or a jersey signed. Durango came out in force to show how much seeing their hometown hero succeed meant to the community.

Last month, Sepp Kuss (Team Jumbo-Visma) became the unexpected yet much-celebrated winner of La Vuleta a España and thereby the first American to win a Grand Tour since 2013.

While the 29-year-old lives in Andorra these days, his roots and humble beginnings lie in the small town of Durango, Colorado, which is set to welcome its hero home on October 19. 

Kuss' first racing team, Durango Devo, is hosting a homecoming celebration for Kuss and all are invited.

The event will begin with a speech by Kuss at Durango’s Buckley Park followed by a meet-and-greet for locals and fans. From there, a bike parade down will roll down Main Avenue and finishing back at the park. After the parade, fans can enjoy live music, food and beverages, autograph signings and Sepp Kuss merchandise sales. 

Cycling is so intricately woven into Durango’s culture that the town has dedicated the month of October to the sport and dubbed it “Spoketober.” Kuss’ return to the Centennial State couldn’t come at a more appropriate time.

“Durango Devo is proud of all our alumni, and we’re certainly proud of Sepp Kuss! He is a great example of what makes Durango Devo and the Durango cycling community special,” says Levi Kurlander, executive director of Durango Devo. “We are honored to host the Vuelta a España champion and Tour de France stage winner and celebrate his achievements in his hometown.”

Check out the full schedule of events and inclement weather plan below.

• 3:30 p.m.:  Speeches and Q&A at Buckley
• ● 4:30 p.m.: Bike Parade
• ● 5:15 p.m.: Post Parade Celebration/Autographs/Live Music
• ● 7:00  p.m. :Buckley Park Closed

In case of bad weather, the event will take place at the La Plata Fairground Exhibit Hall, and the parade will take place on the Animas River Trail. Necessary updates on a possible venue change will be made the week of the event and posted to social media.

Also read:

• Where it all started — Sepp Kuss’ Vuelta win means everything to his hometown of Durango, Colorado
• From 'mailman' to maillot rojo: Sepp Kuss becomes first American to win a Grand Tour in a decade
• 13 things you didn't know about Sepp Kuss

Five thousand two hundred miles away from Madrid, Spain, where Team Jumbo-Visma won its third Grand Tour victory of the season, the town of Durango is ecstatic. Its hometown hero, Sepp Kuss, finally got his shot and made it count, winning the Vuelta a España ahead of his team leaders, Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič. 

The win was historic for U.S. cycling as Kuss brought home the first Grand Tour win for an American since Chris Horner did so at the same race back in 2013. And while Kuss' achievement is felt and talked about across the nation, it's nowhere as visible and as celebrated as it is in the small Colorado town of Durango. 

Home to a host of former Olympians, the town boasts an impressive list of athletic achievements of its past and present residents, who contested in all sorts of mountain sports. It even has an entire month dedicated to the celebration of all things cycling — Spoketober— and this on-the-bike victory of their own, born-and-raised star, is sure to be featured heavily. Already, Sepp Kuss stickers adorn mailboxes and street signs, posters are up in bike shops around town and plenty of locals can be seen wearing supporter t-shirts. 

Devo Kid

Kuss got his bike racing start with the Durango Devo program, a mountain bike team started by Chad Cheeney and Sarah Tescher, that has also produced the likes of 2021 short track world champion, Christopher Blevins, and multi-time national xc champion, Howard Grotts. 

With a motto of Never Forget The Fun (NFTF), the program is renowned for instilling a deep love of riding, with racing and competition often taking a backseat. 

"I have known Sepp since he was a sixth grader; that's when he was with Devo. He started with our middle school program, and he did it till he was 17 or 18," says Cheeney, talking to Cycling Weekly in his Fort Lewis office, where he keeps some signed Sepp Kuss rider cards and memorabilia from his Gateway Harley Davidson days. Cheeney's love of the sport is on display here and it’s this same love that gets ingrained in his Devo riders. 

Kuss just loved to be on a bike and seemed as interested in getting out and exploring as he was in racing, recalls Cheeney. But he was also a keen competitor.

"He was a big explorer. On the off days, he wouldn't go play with friends in high school. He would be up in the mountains trying new routes."

Asked if he ever expected this kind of success from Kuss, Cheeney says he'd had an inkling he'd do well.

"There was a race in Fruita, and there were some pretty fast guys there like [Ben] Sonntag, and Sepp came around in the first lap in the lead, and we were all like, 'Wow, Sepp is that fast'," recalls Cheeney. "He could climb well, but that Mountain States Cup wasn't a climbing race and Sepp just demolished everyone."

These day, Kuss lives in Andorra year-round and doesn't visit Durango very often anymore, yet the hometown support has only grown over the years along with his success in the European peloton. The locals feel great pride in the achievements of their "Eagle of Durango".

"Everyone says it takes a village, and I have been getting interviewed and getting talked to a bit more than my contemporaries. I was there for it, but really, it was a huge support crew with parents who supported Devo and Sarah Tescher, who made everything work," says Cheeney. "But it is a special feeling for sure."

Richard Plugge has said that the day Jumbo-Visma were notified of German rider Michel Hessman’s positive anti-doping test was a ‘black day’ for the team.

Hessmann was suspended by the Dutch squad in mid-August after an anti-doping test conducted in June came back positive. The test revealed the presence of diuretics in Hessman’s system.  Jumbo-Visma immediately made the 22-year-old inactive until further details were known.

In his latest column in Wielerflits’ Ride magazine, Plugge went into further detail about the day Jumbo received the news.

He said: “Wednesday, August 16, 2023 was a black day for our team. For the first time in ten years, we received the message that a rider from our team, Michel Hessmann, had a positive doping test. We had to look in the mirror ourselves, are we doing everything right?

“Everyone involved in and with our organisation must be aware of everything. Germany has a doping law, so the public prosecutor's office is automatically involved. Criminal law has the presumption of innocence, while disciplinary law reasons the other way around. It is up to the athlete to prove that he has done nothing wrong.

“If the test is carried out properly, there are two possibilities, either it is conscious, or it is contamination from a supplement or other medicine.”

Plugge also elaborated on the way in which the Dutch team work to avoid potential contamination in any products they use.

“It is mandatory within our team to only use supplements and medicines that have been batch checked for doping substances, to minimise the risk of contamination. Many products contain remnants of other products,” he added.

“In short, an athlete cannot simply take a supplement, drug or energy drink without knowing whether it has been tested beforehand. There can be a (in or out-of-competition) doping control 365 days a year, the athlete must be sharp every day.

"That is part of cycling policy. Riders (the multiple winners or leader jersey wearers) are checked between thirty and 150 times per year. That is good and should remain that way. We stand for fair sport in which talents cross swords on equal grounds.”

'We understand the scepticism'

The Hessmann positive came shortly before Jumbo-Visma completed a phenomenal clean sweep of the Vuelta a España podium.

American Sepp Kuss won the race overall, Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard took second and Giro d’Italia winner Primož Roglič finished third. 

After the race all three riders acknowledged the scepticism that inevitably had started to creep in but insisted that the team’s incredible season is believable.

Two-time Tour winner Vingegaard said: "For sure we understand the scepticism that there is but people also need to know how much we sacrifice for everything and how much we do everything in detail.

"We go into every detail to be as good as possible. I think that especially in this team, we do everything perfectly and it makes such a big difference, and I don’t think that people realise how much of a difference it makes.

"I think it’s always good to be sceptical, especially when a team is doing well, as long as it’s not allegations. "As long as we speak about it, because of what happened 20 years ago, then I think that will prevent it happening again.

"I’m 100 percent sure that my two colleagues are not taking anything as well as myself."

American cycling hero Sepp Kuss proved once again this season that he is one of the absolute best climbers in the world. He’s long been praised for being able to go where no other domestique can follow, and a true kingmaker of a domestique, he has helped his Jumbo-Visma team leaders Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard secure wins in all three Grand Tours.

But this past week, the 29-year-old “Eagle of Durango” reached new heights when he became the unexpected yet deserving winner of the Vuelta a España, making him the first American Grand Tour winner in a decade and a rare domestique to have claimed such honors. 

In doing so, he proved his status as a top climber and that if he’d been on any other team, he would have been leadman all along. Despite his team duties and the fact that he’s ridden several three-week tours each season, Kuss has finished well inside the top 20 of seven Grand Tours in the past four years. 

And while his procurement of the maillot rojo may have been unplanned, it certainly didn’t come for free. Nothing was gifted to the smiling American, who’s been putting in the work in and out of racing. One only has to take a glance at his Strava record. 

The activity-sharing platform today announced that Kuss has claimed more virtual King of the Mountain trophies than any other professional athlete in 2023.

“2023 has been a big year for American pro cyclist Sepp Kuss,” Strava shared. “No, we’re not talking about how he just won the Vuelta a España, or helped Jumbo-Visma sweep the other men’s Grand Tours. We’re talking about the 808 KOMs he claimed this year.”

All across Spain, France and Italy, Kuss has been flying up mountains to claim crown after crown. In the first nine months of 2023, Kuss has already recorded 256 activities, totaling some 29,007 kilometers (18,024.6 miles) and 547,019 meters (1,794,682 ft) of elevation — that’s nearly 62 Everestings in 37 weeks.

In the comments of Strava’s social media announcement, retired climbing specialist Phil Gaimon, himself an avid Strava KOM hunter, jokingly called his compatriot an “amateur” while thousands of fans applauded Kuss’ achievements, expressed to be like him one day or offered condolences to all those who received the dreaded “Uh Oh! Sepp Kuss just stole your KOM!” emails. 

Kudos Sepp!

Jumbo-Visma made history on Sunday, becoming the first team to ever win all three Grand Tours in one season after Sepp Kuss won the Vuelta a España.

This completed the set, with Primož Roglič taking the Giro d'Italia earlier this year, and Jonas Vingegaard claiming his second Tour de France in July. It is historical.

Not only are Jumbo-Visma the first team to win all three Grand Tours in the same year, they are the first team to complete a whole podium since 1966, when Kas did the same thing at the Vuelta. 

Despite this record-setting, the team's boss, Richard Plugge, insisted that the team would not be resting on its laurels: "There's still a lot to be done. This is a very nice 'crown' on a decade of hard work, but I'm not going to sit back now. We have drawn up a major plan towards 2030. There's room for even more crowns."

The team might not be relaxing, but it has left Spain with its bank balance rather engorged compared to when it arrived in Barcelona almost a month ago. 

Perhaps it is to be expected for a team which won five of the 21 stages and all three places on the podium, but the Dutch super squad won three and a half times more money than the next best remunerated outfit, and almost a third of the total prize money on offer.

Jumbo-Vimsa headed back to the Netherlands with €364,985 (£314,632/$389,681) in prize money, 81 times the €4,485 (£3,866/$4,788) that Astana Qazaqstan, the team with the least prize money, earned over the three weeks.

Even Soudal Quick-Step, with Remco Evenepoel's three stage wins and his win in the mountains classifications, could not come anywhere close, with a prize haul of €98,965 (£85,311/$105,643), less than a third of what Jumbo-Visma earned.

UAE Team Emirates came third in terms of prize money, with Juan Ayuso fourth overall and João Almeida ninth. They claimed €95,530 (£82,346/£$101,976).

It is the third time this year that Jumbo-Visma has finished top of the money pile at a Grand Tour this year, with Vingegaard and co winning €664,280 (£572,602/£709,255) at the Tour in July.

The money will not all go to the winner - as per cycling's traditions the money will be shared among the team and staff - but it's a nice bonus for all concerned.

Along with Astana, three other teams claimed less than €10,000 across the Vuelta, with Jayco-AlUla and its three finishing riders, AG2R Citroën and Arkéa-Samsic also not taking home much change.

Money does not mean everything, and it's unlikely the thing at the top of Sepp Kuss' mind this Monday, but it is a good guide of who did well and who did not at a race, and, well, Jumbo did pretty well.

Alpecin-Deceuninck could have a selection headache for next year’s Tour de France 

With Kaden Groves’ success, Alpecin-Deceuninck may well have found themselves with a potential selection headache in the build up to next year’s Tour de France.

Groves dominated the points classification in Spain, finishing with 315 points in total which was accumulated via three stage victories and various breakaway efforts. Granted, the field of sprinters he faced wasn’t necessarily the best, but you can only beat what’s in front of you, and the Australian rider comfortably did that.

Besides, away from the Vuelta, Groves has already shown this season that he’s capable of beating a higher level of opposition. Back in May, the 24-year-old out sprinted Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Mark Cavendish to win stage five of the Giro d’Italia in Salerno.

Alpecin currently have arguably the best sprinter in the world on their books, Jasper Philipsen. However, if Groves starts next season in decent form then he could put himself in with a shout of making the Belgian squad’s line up for the French Grand Tour.

Sepp Kuss proves he's the real deal

It’s been evident for some time that Sepp Kuss is undoubtedly one of the very best climbers in the world. However, few would ever have imagined him climbing to the Grand Tour winning heights that he’s now reached whilst in the colours of Jumbo-Visma.

For so long, Kuss has been nothing more than just a well oiled cog in the Jumbo winning machine - almost ever present in their Grand Tour success in recent years - but his identity as a bike rider finally shifted on the roads of Spain this summer. 

The Dutch squad would authoritatively stamp their dominance on yet another Grand Tour but this time it was a different man in the race leader’s jersey. It wasn’t the taciturn Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard or the robotic Primož Roglič, it was the smiling American from Durango, Colorado who finally got his moment in the sun.

After Kuss found himself in the Maillot Rojo, some claimed that Jumbo’s willingness to work for him as their leader was the team “gifting” one of their most loyal servants the least sought after Grand Tour in the calendar, rewarding him for his many years of service in the process.

Meanwhile after the chaos on the Angliru, others claimed it was the Dutch squad reckoning on the PR disaster they would have faced if the likeable American hadn’t been given the level of support many felt he deserved from his teammates.

Although you could make the case that Kuss is the type of rider who would have already found himself in this sort of position if he’d been employed elsewhere in the WorldTour peloton.

Kuss has finished well inside the top 20 in seven of the Grand Tour’s that he’s ridden in the past four years. In the right team, with the right riders around him, the 29-year-old could easily have already made the step up that he’s now achieved.  

Remco Evenepoel demonstrated a whole new level of mental strength  

As we all know, cycling can be such a brutal, cruel and unforgiving sport. Once the mountains arrive in any Grand Tour situation there is simply nowhere to hide, and if your legs aren’t in the fight, any goals you may have had will evaporate before your eyes.

That’s the exact situation Remco Evenepoel found himself in on stage 13 when his legs gave up on him on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet. The Belgian former World Champion lost stacks of time on that fateful Friday afternoon which forced him out of contention for overall victory.

At that point, it would have been so easy to just give up, pack your bags and withdraw from the race, but that’s simply not in Evenepoel’s nature. The 23-year-old Belgian is stronger and wiser than you would expect for someone so young.

Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Evenepoel woke up the next morning and steamrollered all opposition to win stage 14 in Larra-Belagua. And he wasn’t done there. Evenepoel won again on stage 18 at La Cruz de Linares which also sealed his victory in the races’ mountains classification.

Evenepoel may not have arrived in Madrid on Sunday in the general classification position he’d have liked but the Belgian ended the race with three stage wins in total to his name and the polka-dot jersey on his shoulders.

That’s bouncebackability right there. 

There’s hope for Spanish cycling yet  

Jumbo may have pulled off a clean sweep of their home Grand Tour podium but there’s very much hope for Spanish cycling yet. 

21-year-old Juan Ayuso won his first ever Grand Tour classification, taking home the white jersey as the best young rider, and finished fourth overall. If it wasn’t for Jumbo’s strength in depth at this year’s race, it’s likely Ayuso would have finished on the podium.

The UAE Team Emirates rider appears to be making steady progress in his development as a racer, and all the signs point to him becoming one of the very best.

Behind Ayuso, Mikel Landa of Bahrain Victorious and Enric Mas (Movistar) finished fifth and sixth respectively. Landa is still yet to deliver on the potential he displayed in his early days, and will switch to a domestique role at Soudal Quick-Step next season but Mas could yet come good.

The 28-year-old has consistently shown himself to be one of the best climbers in the sport yet strangely lacks the results that his potential has deserved across the years. The Movistar rider has only ever won a single Grand Tour stage, which came at the 2018 Vuelta, but has finished runner up in his home Grand Tour on three occasions.

With Mas it feels like if luck were to go his way just once in the seasons to come, he could finally then reach the top step that he has long aimed for. 

Ineos still lack a rider for future GC challenges

If you had sat and studied the GC on Sunday once the race had wrapped up in Madrid, one thing was staggeringly clear. Ineos Grenadiers still lack a rider capable of seriously challenging Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar’s dominance in a Grand Tour setting in the years to come.

Not a single rider from the British team finished inside the top ten.

Yes, Geraint Thomas very nearly won the Giro in May, although the 37-year-old Welshman can’t continue at the top level of the sport indefinitely. Thomas has said as much himself in recent months.

Carlos Rodríguez feels like their best hope currently on the team. The Spaniard finished fifth and won a stage at this year’s Tour de France, but still needs further development before he can mount a serious challenge.

The team have also recently lost a handful of key riders, including Tao Geoghegan Hart to Lidl-Trek, which will leave them short in both the GC challengers and domestique departments. There were whispers of a big money move for Remco Evenepoel throughout the summer, although that appears to have now stalled.

The once dominant team ends the season yet again without a Grand Tour victory. Ineos have some serious work to do if they are to return to the heights of their former identity as Team Sky in the years ahead. 

Rolling from the start line of the processional Stage 21 arm-in-arm with Jumbo-Visma leaders Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, American Sepp Kuss continued to celebrate his unexpected win of 2023 Vuelta a España on Sunday, Sept. 17. 

The celebration started at the end of Stage 20 on Saturday and continued the next day with a reception of an all-red "GC Kuss" race bike and plenty of media fanfare. In winning the Vuelta, Kuss became the first American to win a Grand Tour in a decade, and the second American ever to win the Spanish tour. 

The 29-year-old Coloradan earned the red jersey after stage eight, taking the lead from Lenny Martinez (Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ). He then managed to keep it all the way to Madrid, 13 stages later.

"I think it’s an honor to wear the red jersey…I will try and enjoy it because it’s not something I will experience very often,” the super-domestique said that day.

Kuss has long been celebrated for being one of the best helpers in the peloton, and a key player in helping his teammates Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard win the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. He's been Instrumental in the success of both front men and watching him ride in the red jersey seemed like a storybook ending for the Dutch squad. But it didn't come without some drama in the final week, as Jumbo-Visma struggled with its team strategy, seemingly unable to see the race win go to its domestique instead of its leaders.

As fans across the world called the team out for its questionable antics, squarely placing themselves in "Team Kuss" so did Vinegaard and eventually, Roglič. In the end, all three winners stood atop the podium in Madrid, with Tour de France champion Vingegaard in second place and Giro d'Italia winner Roglič in third. 

Jumbo-Visma made history for becoming the first team to claim all three Grand Tours in the same year — something that was celebrated with the unveiling of a new team kit. On Sunday, the Dutch squad swapped its yellow colorway for an all-black outfit with pink, yellow and red touches to signify the season's Grand Tour victories. 

A Strong Showing this Season

Now in his eighth year of being a pro, Kuss is known for being one of the best climbers in the world, even if he's usually riding in service of his Jumbo-Visma teammates. So much so, that in the 2023 Tour de France, Kuss's teammates nicknamed him “the mailman” because he “always delivers” as a super-domestique.

That is not to say he hasn't had his own successes. Kuss has won stages at both the Tour de France and La Vuelta and finished fifth overall at this year's UAE Tour. 

Fans will remember that Kuss was also looking strong in the General Classification of this year’s Tour de France until a nasty crash in stage 20 tumbled him out of the top 10. 

What is the Red Jersey?

The red jersey, or the maillot rojo, of La Vuelta a España is worn by the leader of the general classification — in other words, by the current race leader. The maillot rojo is equivalent to the yellow jersey (the maillot jaune) awarded to the race leader in the Tour de France and the pink jersey (maglia rosa) in the Giro d'Italia.

The red jersey wasn’t always red, though — it was first white, then yellow, then gold until 2010 when Mark Cavendish had the honor of donning the inaugural red jersey as part of the HTC-Columbia team after the opening team time trial. 

The jersey was changed from yellow to gold to try to be distinct from the Tour de France’s yellow jersey), but after complaints that the gold jersey didn’t look much different than a yellow one, red was decided upon to be distinct to La Vuelta. 

General classification leaders are based on their overall time for the entirety of the race thus far. The rider with the lowest overall time becomes the general classification leader, and in the case of La Vuelta, the wearer of the maillot rojo. 

To keep the red jersey, a rider must continue to have the total fastest time across all stages. This does not mean that the rider needs to win every stage; they just need to maintain the total fastest time for all completed stages. 

Kuss won with a 17-second lead over his teammates. The first non Jumo-Visma rider in the overall standing was Juan Ayuso from UAE. 

Americans Who Have Worn the Red Jersey

Kuss is only the second American male to have worn, let alone won, the maillot rojo. The only other American male to do so was Chris Horner in 2013 when he won La Vuelta at the astounding age of 41. 

In fact, Kuss is the first American male to lead any Grand Tour since Horner's historic ride in 2013. What's more, Kuss joins a very exclusive list of American riders to have officially won a Grand Tour. Not counting the tainted U.S. cycling era, Kuss is only the fourth American after Greg LeMond, Andy Hampsten and Chris Horner.

Barring accident or late drama in Madrid on Sunday, Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) will win the 2023 Vuelta a España, and become the first American to win a Grand Tour in a decade. 

The Jumbo-Visma rider finished arm-in-arm with his teammates on Saturday's stage 20, which saw Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) take victory in Guadarrama. 

Poels went long in a five-up sprint to the line, holding off a late charge from the polka dot jersey wearer, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step). 

There were no major changes to the overall standings on the race's penultimate stage, and with an unwritten agreement not to contest the red jersey on the final day, Kuss is poised to take a maiden Vuelta win. 

"We made it," the 29-year-old told his partner as they embraced after the line, swarmed by photographers. "It's nice and warm in this bubble of people!"

On Sunday, Jumbo-Visma will become the first men’s team in history to claim all three Grand Tours in the same year. Interestingly, too, all three winners are set to stand on the podium in Madrid, with Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard in second place and Giro d'Italia winner Primož Roglič in third.

In a bustle of bodies after stage 20, Kuss turned to Vingegaard, smiling, and said: "You next." 

The penultimate stage of this year’s Vuelta offered a sawtooth profile, with 10 category-three climbs between Manzanares El Real and Guadarrama. 

Not long after the flag drop, a mega 31-man breakaway escaped, containing Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and Evenepoel, winner of three stages already. 

The group rode calmly throughout the afternoon, until an attack from Poels inside 15km to go tore through the serenity. The rangy Dutchman’s move almost proved the undoing of Evenepoel, who slipped off the back, but managed to catch back up on a descent. 

Coming into the finale, Poels launched his sprint first, choosing to go long through a sweeping left-hand bend. The 35-year-old, known for his climbing prowess, quickly put three bike lengths into his breakaway companions, and held a gap over a small rise in the road. 

Despite his best efforts, Evenepoel could not catch him. 

Kuss crossed the line together with Vingegaard and Roglič over 10 minutes later, the first American since Chris Horner in 2013 to win a Grand Tour. "It hasn't sunk in yet," the Jumbo-Visma rider said afterwards. 

Results

Vuelta a España stage 20 - Manzanares El Real to Guadarrama (207.8km)

1. Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious, in 4-59-29
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
3. Pelayo Sánchez (Esp) Burgos-BH
4. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Dstny, all at same time
5. Marc Soler (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, at 4s
6. Rui Costa (Por) Intermarché-Circus-Wanty
7. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
8. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
9. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich
10. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, all at 26s

General classification after stage 20

1. Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma, in 74-23-42
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma, at 17s
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 1-08
4. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, at 3-44
5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain Victorious, at 4-03
6. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, at 4-14
7. Aleksandr Vlasov, Bora-Hansgrohe, at 8-19
8. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 8-26
9. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 10-08
10. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, at 12-04

In all honesty, this year's Tour of Britain has not been the most electrifying so far: five stages, four sprints, five Jumbo-Visma wins. That's no criticism of the organisers, who have a very hard job, just a reflection on a repetitive week from Manchester to Essex.

Forget about the racing, though. Maybe it's not about the racing. If it is about the social media game, then the stage race around England and Wales is providing the goods.

The biggest providers of social media gold this week have been Tour de Tietema, the online phenomenon which started out around Bas Tieteman, grew into a YouTube channel, and now a whole cycling team - TDT–Unibet Cycling Team. They are known for their quirky clips, like trying to get riders to do wheelies or dunk basketballs at the Tour de France, but are also a serious cycling team.

The Dutch squad are using their travels around this fair isle to to just post though, it seems, and I think we can all respect that. If you're not going to win a stage or come close, why not make sure you're taking home combativity awards and tweeting the hell out of your week?

From Simon Cowell jokes to an instructive video on how to make a proper cup of tea, the TDT lads know how to make a splash - including, by making an actual splash.

Away from heatwave central, AKA the UK, to a more traditionally hot place, Spain, where Sepp Kuss has been in the red jersey at the Vuelta a España for a week, and has been the subject of much excitement online. He is the first American to lead a Grand Tour in ten years, so we get the craze, especially as he isn't Chris Horner. How he works alongside Jumbo-Visma's two other leaders, both of whom are defending Grand Tour champions, in Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard, is a whole other question.

Elsewhere, there's Ellen van Dijk continuing to get mileage out of being pregnant for posts, Jesús Herrada's Jesus-like collapse, Thomas De Gendt's jersey offer, and Demi Vollering meets the King (of the Netherlands).

1. We start with the crazy guys at Tour de Tietema, with Harry Tanfield showing their audience how to make a cup of tea. One can't help but wonder why, if Yorkshire Tea is so important to the Yorkshireman, he doesn't take the tea around with him? Maybe he ran out

2. Harry Tanfield, not only a content machine for Tour de Tietema, but a very good bike handler too

3. This is the meme of the week as far as I'm aware, and it comes with so much self awareness too. Well done TDT

4. Tour de Tietema have been the entertainers at the Tour of Britain, even if Jumbo-Visma/Simon Cowell do not approve

5. Harry Tanfield cannot stop having fun, and who can blame him?

6. Talking of having fun at the Tour of Britain, it's good to see people getting stuck into our cuisine like this. The good old fashioned English dish of a Frankfurter in a baguette

7. If anyone deserves to meet the King of the Netherlands, it's probably Demi Vollering. I have struggled but I can't name anyone else in the photo, and to that end, I would like to apologise both to the Netherlands and the Dutch royal family. Damn my ignorance.

8. I know Ineos want us to make it seem like Ben Turner is doing karaoke here, but to me, it seems like he's halfway through a stand up routine. 

"These days, you can't say you're English without being arrested and thrown in jail"

9. Jake Scott, that guy on a club ride who always has to be extravagant for no reason

10. Poor Remco has been through a lot in his short life and the Vuelta to date

11. This photo just screams cycling across the USA to me. Who's giving out free hugs that late at night, though? Hmm

12. One of these Lidl-Trek women is not like the other. Yes you're right, it's Brodie Chapman, cos she's in the Aussie champs kit

13. Are we still doing Barbie memes? Really?

14. How far do you think you would get up the 40% climb? I'm thinking absolutely nowhere

15. Magnus Sheffield is absolutely thrilled by the idea of the Crucible Theatre, the Winter Gardens, Park Hill, the Super Tram, errrr Jarvis Cocker

16. A really good tweet. No further comments.

17. Onto the Sepp Kuss section of TOTW! The man from Colorado looks like he has just realised what is happening to him here. Good luck, Sepp

18. Sepp Kuss, of course, is hampered by not having Sepp Kuss as a domestique 

19. Good luck to anyone who wants to get in the way of the Jumbo triumvirate 

20. Thomas De Gendt has a very attractive offer here

21. The Cofidis soigneur just wanted to celebrate his charge's win, but instead faced the full force of the famously soft Spanish police

22. Finally, we end with some art history from the Low Countries

As he demonstrated again this past month in the 2023 Tour de France, Sepp Kuss is one of the best climbers in the world and a kingmaker of a domestique who's helped his Jumbo-Visma teammates Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard take wins in all three Grand Tours. Not without his own success, Kuss has won a stage in the Tour de France and La Vuelta España, and finished fifth overall at this year's UAE Tour. 

After sitting in the top 10 in the overall classification for most of this year's Tour, a serious crash left him bloody and bandaged on Stage 20, and pushed him out of the top 10. 

Nicknamed simply "The Durango Kid," the 28-year-old may not be a kid anymore but he's certainly an invaluable asset for his team. Here's some facts about super domestique. 

1. While growing up Kuss was a member of the Durango Devo mountain bike program but was more focused on nordic ski racing in the winter.

2. As a member of Durango Devo, Kuss grew up competing with the likes of Howard Grotts who went on to be a two-time Olympian and multi-time national champion.

3. His father Dolph was a coach for the U.S Ski Team at two different Olympic Games and is a member of the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame.

4. His parents, Dolph and Sabine, instilled a love for the outdoors in Kuss from a young age, introducing him to trail running, biking, whitewater kayaking and, even, burro backpacking trips in the San Juan Mountains.

5. Kuss is a three-time collegiate mountain bike national champion, winning three titles for the University of Colorado Boulder in both XC and Short Track.

6. Kuss raced the mountain bike world championship in 2014 in Lillehammer, Norway before he even started road racing.

7. He was first introduced to road racing at college in Boulder and the Durango native took to it immediately.

8. He graduated with a degree in advertising in 2017.

9. In his second season racing road, Kuss won a stage of the Redlands Cycling Classic and made it onto the Rally Pro cycling roster for the rest of that season.

10. While racing professionally for the last six years, he has only ever ridden for the Jumbo-Visma squad in the WorldTour.

11. Finishing eighth in La Vuelta in 2021 was the highest placing an American had achieved since Andrew Talansky five years prior.

12. Now a full-time European resident, Kuss lives at high altitude in Andorra with his wife Noemi and their adorable mini Doodle named Bimba.

13. His stage win in the 2021 Tour broke a 10-ten year drought for American stage wins. Kuss was the first American to win a Tour stage since Tyler Ferrar won stage three in 2011. 

Jumbo-Visma boss Richard Plugge has called for “solution” to the problem of fans getting too close to the riders at the Tour de France and causing crashes because it is “getting worse every year”.

Key lieutenant to the team’s yellow jersey wearer Sepp Kuss was brought down by a fan on a high-speed stretch of road on stage 15 of the race. There was then a cascade through the bunch that saw multiple riders hit the tarmac.

While Kuss, and his team-mate Nathan van Hooydonck were able to continue, Plugge was unhappy with the result.

He said: “The team’s performance today was very much influenced by the spectator that made Sepp Kuss crash and then the other riders crash. That’s a big problem because it influences the course of the Tour de France. It hurts our tactics, others’ tactics and it hurts people.”

He added: “Sepp had to drop at the end and that’s not normal. Normally he can follow so that was due to this crash at the beginning.”

He pointed to the crash that also involved a spectator earlier in the race and resulted in Steff Crass of TotalEnergies having to abandon. “We should find a solution... because it’s getting worse every year,” he said.

Asked what that should look like Plugge had a few suggestions: “It’s really difficult. We discussed earlier with the organisers [of the Tour de France] doing something like in the Tour of Flanders where you have loops of 20km or 30km, it’s less nice but you can fence it off. 

“Maybe you should ask for €10 to go on the mountain because yesterday on Col de Joux Plane was really hectic as well. Maybe you should ask for €10 and you get it back when you come down if nothing happens.

He said that would ensure that the “real fans” of the sport, ones who were “are respectful to the riders”, were the ones at the roadside and not the “drunk” fans that had been atop the Col de Joux Plane.

“People will not come up the mountain if they think ‘well I don’t like the sport but I can stand there and drink beer,’” he said.

He also suggested that charging deposits on drinks bottles might help as they can roll under riders wheels and cause crashes and charges might give a financial incentive for spectators to keep them safer. 

Plugge was unsure who held the most responsibility for implementing a solution to the issue but said: “The person [who caused the crash] if he calls us and says ‘I’m really sorry for what I did’ that'd be ok because it’s not really about punishment it’s about realising what you are doing. Have more respect for the riders.”

Kuss himself was more sanguine about the situation saying that it was “part of” the Tour de France.

“Ideally it wouldn't happen,” he said at the finish atop Saint Gervais Mont Blanc. “But it's the biggest bike race in the world and a lot of people don't know exactly what's going on. Luckily I'm ok, and hopefully Nathan is also fine.

“Luckily, the adrenaline got me through the day. It's inconvenient, but it could always be worse, and I still felt pretty good on the bike.”

Plugge, who hadn’t spoken to Kuss at the time of speaking to Cycling Weekly, wants to ensure none of his riders have to thank such luck again.

The raucous Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships (SSCXWC) are taking place in wintery Durango, Colorado, this weekend, where participants will be vying for a coveted tattoo instead of rainbow bands. 

After two years of Covid postponements, the very unsanctioned World Championship is being held for a 14th time with more than 300 participants seeking single speed glory. 

Competition will come from amateurs and world-class pros alike with the likes of Stephan Davoust, LifetIme Grand Prix winner Keegan Swenson, Specialized off-road pro Russel Finsterwald, elite cyclocrosser Sunny Gilbert, retired domestic pro roadie Beth Ann Orten and gravel pro Sarah Sturm converging on Durango. 

But one name in particular stood out from the list of registrants: the mysterious "Eagle of Durango."

Over the years, several cycling stars have shown interest in the rambunctious end-of-year-party that is the SSCXWC. In 2016,  the hype reached international heights when the then newly retired Belgian cyclocross legend Sven Nys showed up unannounced to join in on the fun and compete sans gears. 

At the time, Nys had been registered under his American pseudonym, Stan Nice, and the race organizers along with Nys' sponsor, Trek, had successfully managed to keep the attendance of the two-time cyclocross world champion under wraps until the man himself showed up at the opening party to pick up his race numbers. 

With the race registration party for this year's event just hours away, race organizer Dylan Stucki let it slip to Cycling Weekly who the "Eagle of Durango", racing with bib number 3, might be. 

Can you guess who it is? We'll give you some clues:

- He' s a Durango-native

- He's known for being one of the best climbers in the peloton

-  He won the hilly Stage 15 of the 2021 Tour de France 

- When the roads turn up, the  28-year-old Is a big help for his Jumbo-Visma captains Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard.

It's gotta be Sepp Kuss!

The talented American may be known for being one of the best climbers in the road peloton, but he's no stranger to the dirt either. He's a three- time collegiate mountain bike national champion and thus, a very capable off-road rider.  

It will be interesting to see how he'll manage, not necessarily the cyclocross racing, but rather the unique features and shenanigans that await him.

The winner should be able to withstand a certain race-to-party ratio, Stucki says, so we'll have to wait and see if his tolerance matches his climbing prowess. 

I was at a friend’s house recently when I spotted it. An old Wheaties cereal box on display in the kitchen. The orange box had faded edges. Its heavy, whole grain contents long past the expiration date. The reason it had been saved for so long —23 years and counting, in fact— is because it’s become a bit of a collector’s item. The box's chosen champion, wearing the yellow Tour de France jersey and depicted in blurred motion, is Lance Armstrong. 

To support its famous “Breakfast of Champions” slogan, General Mills has been featuring American athletes on the Wheaties packaging since 1937. And over the years, this tradition has become a bit of an indicator of an athlete’s stature in American culture. The likes of Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Simone Biles and Serena Williams have all been featured. 

In 1999, after winning his first Tour de France yellow jersey, Armstrong was the first, and ‘till this day the only, American cyclist to grace the cereal box packaging. He would of course be stripped of this achievement along with all his other Tour de France wins in 2012, but the Wheaties box and, alarmingly, the cereal lives on. 

(Irish cyclist Alan McCormack, American Doug Smith and their teammates from the Wheaties-Schwinn team did precede Armstrong when their likenesses appeared on the cereal box in the 1980s, but that was to showcase the sponsored team not necessarily in recognition of individual achievements.)

Since Armstrong’s infamous Oprah Winfrey interview in 2013 that disgraced the American hero forever, road cycling has been on a steady decline in the United States. 

Participation at amateur and elite events across the country are dwindling, and international races like the Colorado Classic, the Tour of California and the Tour of Utah have all folded due to lack of financial support. 

Only four UCI races remain and they barely reach beyond the local newspapers, let alone offer enough incentive for international stars to come and cross the waters. And without a superhero to get behind, American sports fans pay little attention to what happens abroad, even if young American talent is netting stage wins.  

It seems that for cycling another Wheaties moment is a long way off. Or is it?

In search of a Wheaties Box Moment

Back in 2017 when the interest in gravel riding was really taking off, the hashtag #roadisdead started trending, and the bike industry was sitting on thousands of unsold rim brake road bikes, the then-President of USA Cycling, Derek Bouchard-Hall, told us not to panic. 

“Road is absolutely not dead,” he told me at the time. “It’s going through a midlife crisis.”

It’s cyclical, he explained. Cycling saw a boom in the 1980s and again in the early aughts. It would surely come again. And it did, to an extent. In 2020, the Covid pandemic led to a bicycle boom, just not the road racing kind.

What the racing fad of the 1980s and the early aughts have in common is an American cycling hero. First it was Greg LeMond and then Armstrong. Villain or not, no one can dispute that Armstrong’s victories and cancer story made him a household name — so much so that it was his image you were looking at as you poured your morning cereal into a bowl. 

After Armstrong’s retirement in 2005 the question became, who’s next? And it’s the question we’re still asking today though there’s a glimmer of hope on the horizon. 

“I’m optimistic. The industry is cyclical and road [cycling] has been in the hurt locker for quite a while,” USA Cycling’s current CEO tells Cycling Weekly. “We’re seeing the strongest U.S. men’s presence in Europe in 15-18 years.”

Indeed, the latest crop of American WorldTour riders like Joe Dombrowski (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Brandon McNulty (UAE TEam Emirates) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-Easypost) are demonstrating that Americans not only belong in the WorldTour circuit, they have the potential to win even the biggest races.

Kuss soloed to a mountain top stage win in the 2021 Tour de France and has shown heaps of promise. A the same time, McNulty has played a critical role for Slovenian star Tadej Pogačar in the mountains for several Grand Tours now, and then there’s Powless, who narrowly missed out on the Maillot Jaune on stage 5 of this year’s Tour, and gave American fans everywhere a reason to get up at the crack of dawn to turn on the T.V.

“We — USA Cycling— exist to grow the sport of bike racing across the U.S. And for us, two things have proven to grow the sport of bike racing. One, heroic riders like Neilson [Powless]...Neilson is the future of American bike racing. American fans were all shouting at their TVs this summer as he was fighting for the yellow jersey at the Tour de France,” says Quirk. 

Of course, since Armstrong’s disgrace, the U.S. has seen some incredible female cycling stars with the likes of three-time gold Olympic medalist Kristin Armstrong; climber Mara Abbott who became the first American to win Italy’s Grand Tour, the Giro Rosa; and Coryn Labecki who, in 2017, made history by becoming the first American, man or woman, to win the Tour of Flanders —  just to name a few. 

“Our women have long been our strongest asset,” Quirk agreed. “But unfortunately these athletes have not been getting the public attention they deserve, though that is changing, '' Quirk says. 

Hence no Wheaties box…yet!

The other thing that promotes growth is international races on U.S. soil. The inaugural Maryland Cycling Classic, won by Belgian Sep VanMarcke (Israel-Premier Tech), in August serves exactly that purpose. 

It was one of just four UCI races in the U.S. in 2022 and the highest ranked one at that, carrying a UCI Class 1 ProSeries status.

It was also the first time the U.S. had hosted an international world-class field since the 2019 Amgen Tour of California, a multi-day WorldTour race that was last won by Tadej Pogačar. 

Quirk called it the "most important bike race that’s happened in America in the last five years," and hopes it will reignite some of America's cycling fandom. 

Domestically, there are small signs of the pendulum swinging in cycling’s favor as well. 

“When I look to local associations in American cities, I see growth and momentum, says Quirk. 

Quirk explains that at USA Cycling success is measured in two ways: membership and the number of USA Cycling-sanctioned race days.

“Road has been on a steady decline since 2013, but —not looking at the Covid years— we’re actually seeing growth in membership and we’re hitting our forecasted numbers in terms of race days,” he says.

Initiatives like the L39ion of Los Angeles and their influence in the crit scene are another step in the right direction. 

“L39ion is doing a fabulous job to make cycling resonate in new communities. [Team owners] Justin and Corey [Williams] want to produce superheroes and we support that. Americans love their superheroes,” says Quirk.

“We’ve absolutely got potential heroes. In time they’re going to win a Spring Classic, the yellow jersey [at the Tour de France].”

For USA Cycling, the task before them now is looking for new pathways to get participants who are flocked to gravel and Gran Fondo events into “more traditional racing.”

This is, of course, with an eye on the governing body’s rather ambitious goals for the coming six years. In June the federation announced that it’s set a goal of 7 to 10 medals at the Paris Olympics in 2024 and another 12-15 medals at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, with world championship podiums along the way.

“A yellow jersey at the Tour de France, the world championships, the Olympics — they transcend everything,” Quirk says. 

“An American on the top step of those podiums, that will be our Wheaties Box moment.”