Sepp Kuss made his friendliness the main asset in winning the Vuelta and became the new favorite of cycling fans, won by his loyalty and fair game of this mountain man who finally believed in his potential. The North American won the 78th Tour of Spain today, in which the Portuguese João Almeida finished ninth, making Jumbo-Visma the first team in cycling history to win the three major Tours in the same season.
Kuss is one of those good people we rarely meet in our lives, an affable, selfless cyclist, deeply committed to his leaders – that smile he gave Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic after the betrayal of his companions in the 16th and 17th stages was not that. false -, and an example of fair gameas seen when he rushed to apologize to Spaniard Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) for sprinted to achieve the goal in third place, because he needed bonuses to defend the red jersey against the attack of his colleagues, at the top of Angliru.
The North American, as it was discovered in this Vuelta, is adored by the peloton, so much so that even a consensual and thoughtful cyclist like Geraint Thomas went out to interfere in an issue that was not his, and gave voice to the thoughts not only of cyclists and former cyclists, but also of thousands of fans around the world.
“I’m sorry for Kuss, I feel like he deserves a little more respect, not necessarily from the runners, but from the team.” […]. Obviously I loved seeing Sepp win and I think the majority of the peloton did too,” said the 2018 Tour champion and number two in the last Giro, in which Kuss helped Roglic, as always, to the pink jersey.
The friendliness of the Durango Kid (the boy from Durango, in free translation), as well as his humility and loyalty towards the men he usually works for – he is the only one in the team who took part in the six major Tours organized by the team since he passed called Jumbo-Visma -, were the biggest obstacles he encountered in defending the red jersey, mercilessly attacked by the champion of the 2023 Giro and the 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions of the Vuelta, and by the current two-time Tour champion.
“He’s too good of a guy. That’s Sepp’s problem. He can’t have the authority to say at the team meeting, ‘I want to win this round, guys,'” said former Irish cyclist Sean Kelly, winner of the Vuelta 1988. .
But the escalation of the controversy after the Angliru stage, in which Roglic attacked and Vingegaard took the wheel, with both abandoning Kuss when the red jersey was in trouble, forced Jumbo-Visma directors to intervene and issue a to issue an ultimatum to the two stars of the team: both should work on defending the red jersey. More or less satisfied, the two guided the 29-year-old rider to victory in his first Grand Tour, which was celebrated on Saturday when the three crossed the finish line hugging.
For the North American, dealing with the battle of egos with his Dutch background would have been more difficult than climbing mountains, his natural habitat, or if it had not been where he was born, where he currently lives – in Andorra, with his wife, the Catalan Noemi Ferré, and the dog Bimba – and where he spent almost his entire life, personally but also sportingly.
The son of Dolph Kuss, the coach of the North American Nordic ski team between 1963 and 1972, including at the 1964 Innsbruck and 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics, Sepp was unable to escape his fate and took up skiing at the age of six.
“I discovered that cycling training is better in cross-country skiing,” recently unveiled. But the now Vuelta winner’s first experience in the sport was mountain biking, especially because according to him none of his friends from Durango had a racing bike: “[Diziam] “Why should we do cycling when we can do mountain biking, which is much more fun and cooler?”
Kuss made his World Cup debut in 2014, as an under-23, and repeated his presence the following year, but eventually realized that the world of mountain biking was too predictable and eventually changed his ‘specialty’ in 2015, while studying advertising at the University of Colorado.
In his second season dedicated to road, he impressed with his performance on the North American circuit and was hired by Rally cycling, a second division team in the world that brought him to the Volta ao Algarve in 2017, the season in which he achieved consistent results and attracted the attention of Jumbo-Visma.
The Dutch team saw undeniable potential in the mountains, which was confirmed in their debut year on the World Tour, with a victory overall and in three stages of the Tour of Utah, earning them a call-up to the Vuelta in their first season . among the greats.
His discreet personality and low self-confidence were reflected in interviews such as the one he gave on the specialized website CyclingNews in 2020, in which he admitted that he did not have the mentality to be a candidate for victory in a Grand Tour, or that the difficulties in the time trial and dealing with the pressure of leading relegated him to the status of sociable, but not just anyone, one of the best in the world.
“Sepp is the best mountain helper in the world. We tried and evaluated generals with him in 2021. […] I would say this role [de gregário] suits him better,” director Merijn Zeeman argued in statements at the time See him.
Dedicated to working for others, the North American has rarely had the opportunity to shine solo, with victories in one stage of the 2019 Vuelta and another in the 2021 Tour the main lines of his CV until this edition of the Spanish race, in which he was launched in a team breakaway to the sixth stage, which he won, and which put him second in the general classification, a position he improved on the eighth stage, wearing the red jersey and this was no longer possible, thanks to a solid performance in the mountains and a competent defense in the ‘chrono’.
“I never expected to be in this situation. I’m not a winner in the sense that I have to win at all costs. Most champions have a bit of cold-bloodedness to win, and I’m not like that,” he admitted after. the difficult days he lived in last week of the Tour of Spain.
Perhaps for this reason, Kuss won over cycling fans, with the vast majority choosing his victory over Vingegaard and Roglic. “I don’t know why others like me and want me to win! I’m only human, just like everyone else. We’re all competitors and sometimes it’s hard to see the human side, but I just try to be nice to everyone , do my best for the people,” admitted the new Vuelta champion and the hearts of the sport’s followers.
Sepp Kuss was crowned winner in Madrid on Sunday, after the 21st and final stage of the Vuelta, won by Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Source: DN
