'The Clásica Jaén is a race for everybody' - Sepp Kuss raring to go for 2025 debut in Spanish Classic

It's not often you hear climbing specialists getting enthusiastic about off-road challenges, but when it comes to Sepp Kuss and the Clásica Jaén, his first race of the 2025 season, it's clear that there are a few standout exceptions to that unwritten rule.

As the Visma-Lease a Bike racer put it in the countdown to the Clásica Jaén on Monday, the 169-kilometre race through the olive groves and dusty gravel tracks of Eastern Andalucia "has something for everybody, it's a race where everybody has a chance".

The segments of off-road are set to stay dry this year, unlike in 2024 when rainy conditions forced a drastic last-minute reduction in the untarmacked sectors by the organisers. There are 31 kilometres of Spanish sterrato on display in the 2025 race and also a lot of climbing, with over 2,900 metres of vertical gain.

"That means the climbers can have a chance and so do the early breakaways, as well as the top favourites," Kuss, who finished sixth last year, said on Sunday to a small group of reporters including Cyclingnews. "So that makes it a much more wide open race."

The province of Jaén is famous for its never-ending 'seas' of olive trees, an agricultural tradition that stretches back at least 2,000 years in eastern Andalucia, and as Kuss said: "It's got a very Spanish landscape which is really nice, very special". 

"It's a very technical race, but it's one for anybody - climbers, Classics riders, lots of people can do well here," Kuss confirmed.

"You have to have a lot of endurance, the climbs are different here because when you're going up a hill on the off-road segments, you have to shift a lot of watts."

On top of that, the comparatively low number of WorldTour teams - just five of the 13 set to take part in this year's race - means the UCI 1.1 event is much less controlled than the major WorldTour events.

There can be no doubt that, though, Visma-Lease a Bike will be one of the strongest teams in Monday's race, with Kuss riding alongside Tiesj Benoot and Wout van Aert in the Dutch squad. For Van Aert in particular, after an untimely early puncture caused by a large nail, just as he headed into the first sector of off-road caused the Belgian to miss out on any chance of success, Van Aert will likely have a strong sense of unfinished business.

"We'll have to control the race at some points but there could be chances for Wout, for Tiesj, for me - or for anybody," Kuss said.

"Wout is always keen to do well, and I'm guessing he's in great shape after such a long off-season. For him the big goals are the Belgian Classics and a race in Jaén with so much off-road is ideal preparation for him."

Kuss was also racing alongside Van Aert at the Vuelta a España last year, where the Belgian was unlucky enough to crash out and injured in the third week, just when he had achieved a notable comeback from his terrible fall in April in the Dwars door Vlaanderen. 

As Kuss sees it, competing again alongside  Van Aert again in Spain - and as it happens, the Clasica Jaén is the first road race since that ill-fated Vuelta for both Belgian and American - feels like a great way to put 2024 behind them and look ahead.

"Yes, of course, because it was really sad seeing him crash out like that, particularly when he was doing so well after such a tough spring when he was so unlucky and when he was holding both the points jersey and the KOM title," Kuss said.

"But this year, we can start afresh again. He's really keen to get moving and do a great Classics season, right up to Flanders and Roubaix. It makes me happy, too, to be with him in the first races of the year."

Albeit in a very different way to Van Aert, Kuss himself had a tough Vuelta a España last year, where as defending champion he came in as one of the top favourites. Instead, Kuss finished a below-expectations 14th overall, and this after a promising-looking victory in the Vuelta a Burgos in early August had suggested he'd be back in the Vuelta GC running for sure.

"I don't know if I was looking to win, but I had the feeling that I had great form, the thing was I wasn't very good at handling the pressure of being sole leader," explained Kuss, who had never been a specific GC contender before the 2023 Vuelta.

"Before the season, the idea had to been to go to the [2024] Vuelta with Wout and Jonas [Vingegaard] and I could play my role, without any real pressure, like in the 2023 Vuelta.

"But last year was very different because, I was sole [GC] leader in the team, and I didn't have the legs I needed in the key moments. [There was] more pressure than before," he said, referencing Vingegaard's crash in the spring, where he suffered major injuries and ended his season after the Tour de Pologne in August.

"It's very different to be a leader that knows that you're going there to a race to win, come what may. If you are a domestique you can go to a race and if you're good, great, but if not, it's not the end of the world. That's very different."

His revised strategy for 2025 will be based more on doing well where he can, but like in 2023, without going into events with the specific goal of being leader. The Clásica Jaén will be the first chance to try that strategy out again in 2025, followed by the Volta ao Algarve later this week, where he'll have both Vingegaard and Van Aert in the Visma lineup.

"I know the rivals' levels, Jonas' [Vingegaard's] level, and how strong he is. It'll be an honour to help him," Kuss concluded. "I'll do what I can when I can, like I did two years ago.

"I just want to be satisfied with my performance and do the maximum I can. But doing it this way, there will be less pressure."