Sepp Kuss

Sepp Kuss, born in Durango, Colorado, Kuss grew up competing in a variety of sports from Nordic skiing, to kayaking and running before finally settling into cycling in his senior year of high school. As a student at the University of Colorado-Boulder studying advertising, Kuss switched from mountain biking, a discipline in which he won three collegiate titles, to a road focus in 2016.

By 2023, Kuss had a reputation as one of the best climbers in the peloton and won the GC title at the Vuelta a España with Jumbo-Visma, the first US rider to win that Grand Tour in a decade. It was the fifth straight Grand Tour of his career, and he showcased his climbing ability with a win on stage 6 of that Vuelta at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambra. He had already proved his worth by helping Primož Roglič win the Giro d'Italia and Jonas Vingegaard capture his second Tour de France.

His top results on the road began in 2017 at North American UCI stage races, second-place overall at the Tour of Alberta and a stage win at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, which earned him a multi-year contract at the WorldTour level with Lotto-Jumbo. In his first year with Jumbo, Kuss banked a full spring of experience-building race days including the Critérium du Dauphiné. After returning home, Kuss won three stages, the overall and mountains classifications at the Tour of Utah and competed in his first Grand Tour directly afterward.

In 2019, Kuss raced at the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España, where he won a stage and helped Roglič win the overall, showing himself as a loyal and strong mountain domestique. By 2020, Kuss established himself as a 'super-domestique' - riding to 15th overall in his first Tour de France while helping Roglič to second overall.

In his second Tour de France, Kuss won stage 15 in Andorra, his home base in Europe, and helped Jonas Vingegaard to second overall. In 2022, Kuss was on the Tour de France winning squad when Vingegaard claimed his first title but fell ill during the Vuelta and dropped out before stage 9. 

In 2023, Kuss secured the overall victory at the Vuelta a España, which closed out a historic 2023 season. Kuss had already been successful in 2023 as the key climbing domestique for Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard at their respective Giro d’Italia and Tour de France victories but made history at the Vuelta as the first American to win one of cycling’s Grand Tours since Chris Horner in 2013.

In 2024, Kuss won the overall title at the Vuelta a Burgos.

Victories

2024

🥇Vuelta a Burgos GC

2023

🥇Vuelta a España GC

🥇Vuelta a España stage 6

2022

🥇Vuelta a España stage 1 (TTT)

2021

🥇Tour de France stage 15

2020

🥇Critérium du Dauphiné stage 5

2019

🥇Vuelta a España stage 15

2018

🥇Tour of Utah GC

🥇Tour of Utah stage 6

🥇Tour of Utah - stage 5

🥇Tour of Utah - stage 2

2016

🥇Tour de Beauce - stage 2

🥇Redlands Bicycle Classic - stage 2