Sepp Kuss: The USA cycling domestique who became a Grand Tour winner
During La Vuelta 2023, the Jumbo-Visma climber became the first rider from the United States to wear a leader’s jersey at a Grand Tour since Chris Horner did it a decade ago. Kuss went on to emulate his fellow American and win the whole race.
Cycling Road
USA cyclist Sepp Kuss is used to being out of the spotlight, helping his captains.
Now the spotlight is on him.
In 2023, the super-domestique assisted Primoz Roglic in his Giro d’Italia overall victory. Later he followed this up by supporting Jonas Vingegaard on the way to his second Tour de France general classification win.
After years in a supporting role, the 28-year-old from Durango, Colorado has now transformed into a Grand Tour winner himself.
Remarkably, before putting on the red leader’s jersey at the 2023 Vuelta a España, Kuss hasn't had an overall lead in a race since the Tour of Utah back in 2018.
So how did Kuss go from being a “gregario” to a Grand Tour “campione”? Olympics.com looked closer at his journey to find out.
Sepp Kuss: Growing up in a sporting family
Kuss has sport in his genes. His father Dolph Kuss coached the USA's Nordic skiing (cross-country and ski jumping) team from 1963 to 1972, including at the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck 1964 and Sapporo 1972.
With the Rocky Mountains at their doorstep, Dolph Kuss encouraged his son to indulge in sport. And the youngster was ready to heed this advice, picking up cross-country skiing, mountain biking, kayaking and ice hockey at an early age.
While trying to improve his performance in cross-country skiing, Kuss discovered road cycling.
Cycling on the road was not encouraged in his mountainside community, however, so Kuss first raced on trails on his mountain bike.
"When I was young, growing up in Durango, none of my friends rode road - it was almost lame to ride a road bike,” Kuss told Cyclingnews. “That was the stigma in Durango I guess, because it’s such a mountain biking town, but as I got older I got more interested in watching road races and I grew to appreciate it a bit more, even though I’d never done any road races myself."
Kuss participated in the 2014 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Lillehammer, Norway, finishing 36th in the under-23 cross-country race. He also raced the year after, coming in as number 48.
Not satisifed with these results, Kuss started to consider other options.
Sepp Kuss: From student to road cyclist
It was not before Kuss started studying at the University of Colorado in 2018 that he began riding more on the road. The USA cyclist studied English literature and majored in advertising.
His home state Colorado has an average altitude of 1,000 metres and most of the climbs are located between 2,000 and 4,000 metres, so it was an ideal place for him to train and ride climbs on a road bike.
Kuss began his road cycling career with the Rally Cycling continental team in 2016. By the following year, he was already posting impressive results, finishing top 10 on the queen stage of the Tour of California and taking a second place overall at the Tour of Alberta.
These results caught the eye of Jumbo-Visma, and the promising climber signed with the team for the 2018 season.
"For me it was never an objective to be on a US team per se. Moving to Europe and everything was already a big change, so I thought, ‘Why not be on a European team too?’," Kuss told Cyclingnews. "It’s exciting to have aspects of your life that are a bit out of your comfort zone. Going to new places, meeting new people, getting new ideas – that’s always fun."
Sepp Kuss: “I need to be more confident in myself"
Kuss showed his potential from the first season with the Dutch team, winning the Tour of Utah overall, which awarded him a spot at the 2019 Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España.
His big breakthrough for Jumbo-Visma came at the Spanish Grand Tour in 2021, where Kuss claimed the mountainous stage 15 to Santuario del Acebo while helping team captain Roglic claim the first of his three successive overall victories.
That was the first time that Kuss supported a teammate to a Grand Tour win. Prior to the 2023 Vuelta, he had helped his leader six times in winning a Grand Tour.
The 28-year-old has taken advantage of opportunities when they arise. He won a stage in the 2021 Tour de France to Andorra, where he is residing with his Catalan girlfriend.
“I’m not a guy that needs to ask for so much," Kuss told Cyclingnews earlier this year. "I just lay low and do my thing. For me, it works better that way."
At the 2023 Vuelta a España,the American gained huge popularity, not just in the US, but also in Spain as he is giving post-race interviews speaking fluent Spanish.
While Kuss has said in earlier interviews that he did not have any general classification ambitions, this month at La Vuelta 2023 the humble Coloradan put in a complete display to claim his maiden major race win, to become the first USA Grand Tour winner since Chris Horner won the Vuelta a España in 2013.