'It's a race that is always decided in the mountains' - Sepp Kuss back on track for Vuelta a España title defence

2023 was a banner year for Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike). In fact, the US rider did more in one year than many riders do in a career. He went from climbing domestique to Vuelta a España champion and in the process added his name to several records, as well as helping his team become the first-ever group to sweep all three Grand Tours. 

Landing in Lisbon, Portugal this week to begin his defence of the Vuelta, Kuss took part in a Visma-Lease a Bike virtual press conference to talk about a recent illness that kept him away from the Tour de France, winning Vuelta a Burgos last week, facing long-time former teammate Primož Roglič as a competitor, and staying consistent with his low-key character after the rigors of major accolades from a year ago.

“I think the form is pretty good. I was a bit surprised to be good already in Burgos. But yeah, it's nice when it works out without expecting it. So for sure, it's a mental boost. But it's always different in a Grand Tour. Most importantly, I feel pretty fresh for this race,” Kuss told a collection of media outlets, including Cyclingnews, in a virtual interview session Thursday.

Last year Kuss went under many radars going into his sixth Vuelta, but he came away with his first Grand Tour victory. It was the first victory for a US rider in a decade at the Vuelta since Chris Horner won in 2013. It was also the first time in 65 years since a rider from any country has raced all three Grand Tours and won one of them, and he did it with an exclamation point with a victory in Madrid.

Then there was the team sweep of all three Grand Tours, another first-time achievement sealed at the Vuelta after Vingegaard won a second Tour de France and Roglič won the Giro d’Italia.

“It was really special, especially when I zoom out a bit and see what it means for US riders. I don't think it changed me too much as a person. Of course, when you have success in sports, then it always gives more expectation or more focus on you. It's nice to have the recognition. I think in some ways that makes it harder, but it's always [about] finding a balance.”

He said he was back in balance for the five-day Vuelta a Burgos after missing the Tour, where he was to support Vingegaard. The team took him off the Tour de France roster when he had lingering issues with a coronavirus infection. He said he had no issues in the past with bouts of COVID, but this time it took him a good deal of time to recover.

“I was incredibly fatigued for many weeks. It took a while for the lungs to feel good or normal again. I couldn't even have imagined just trying to start the Tour. I was not in a state to really think of it as a possibility, which was, of course, really disappointing. But luckily all the complications went away, and now I feel normal.”

Kuss was born in the mountains of Colorado and climbing became part of his DNA. So it was no surprise that he used his ability to scale mountains to win his first Grand Tour.

“In the Vuelta, it's a race that's always decided in the mountains, especially this year. There's so many summit finishes that I think it's definitely more weighted to those. With the TT on the very last stage, it still can be close,” Kuss said about his analysis of the 2024 route, which has nine stages with mountaintop finish lines.

He noted two climbs that peaked his interest came in the final week, stage 15 to Cuitu Negru, with gradients of 24% across 19 kilometres to the finish line, and stage 20 to Picón Blanco, the final climbing day before the time trial.

“I think the Cuitu Negru seems really hard. Also the Picón Blanco is a hard climb. It’s really exposed and really steep,” he noted.

Wout van Aert was seated next to his teammate and when asked which climb he feared the most, responded, “I have no idea”, as he counted on Kuss to take care of those stages while he could look for other opportunities at his first Vuelta.

“It’s nice for my confidence to have teammates around me to control the race. And that's a different approach than, let's say, just have the freedom to go and search for a result. Especially in this race, we will also have to take control at some point to create opportunities and looking forward to that. [There are] so many climbing stages that it would be also boring to be the only leader,” Van Aert added about having Kuss to share the load.

New GC approach

Last year Kuss entered the Vuelta with no pressure as Vingegaard and Roglič had the nodd as the main favourites for the GC, both having won the other two Grand Tours on the calendar. The young climber for the US had supported Roglič in his trio of GC titles in Spain from 2019 to 2021, so what could change? A lot.

It was a surprise in the opening week when Kuss went into the race lead. However, the wrangling of leadership from proven captains Vingegaard and Roglič continued for the next two weeks. 

“This year without main GC riders like them, it's different for me. I wouldn't say there's more pressure, but yeah, there's no one else to help or fall back on like two of the best GC riders in the world,” he said about Vingegaard and Roglič. "It just gives a different focus to the race.”

Vingegaard focused on the Tour this year, finishing second overall to Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) while Roglič leads the Vuelta charge for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. 

“It is always strange when you're used to being with someone in the team for so long, and then racing against them,” Kuss said about facing his former teammate. The two competed against each other at the Critérium de Dauphiné in the spring, which Roglič won. Previous to that, Kuss won the mountain classification at Itzulia Basque Country, while Roglič was part of the mass crash on stage 4 that took out many riders.

“It's a good relationship, now we're competitors. Any race he's in, he’s one of the main favorites. So I'm sure everyone will be looking towards him.

“Last year was a unique circumstance with having them [Vingagaard and Roglič] as the main guys in the team. For sure, everybody in the beginning of the race was looking at them, and I was able to slip into a breakaway, that was very decisive,” he said about stage 6.

The Durango native got into a mighty breakaway on stage 6 and went on to win at the Javalambre Astronomy Observatory, vaulting him 10 spots in the GC to second overall. At the time saying the team would take it “one day at a time”, it was just two days later he slipped on the red leader’s jersey for Visma.

In the final days of the Vuelta a year ago, Vingegaard and Roglič rode clear of Kuss on the Altu de l’Angliru and Kuss made an extra effort to finish third on the stage and hold onto the race lead by a slim 8 seconds. Debate swirled about the team’s hierarchy and diplomacy, but Kuss was back in the driver’s seat the next day with support from his teammates.

The trio finished on the podium at last year’s Vuelta - winner Kuss alongside Vingegaard in second and Roglič in third. 

“I just want to race my best to honour being the defending champion and everything that comes with that. So looking forward to it,” Kuss said.

Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the 2024 Vuelta a España - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage as it happens and more. Find out more.