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Sepp Kuss is the man of the hour at the Vuelta a España. And rightly so.
Resplendent in the red jersey of the race lead, Kuss was the center of attention from the moment he left the team hotel until he crossed the finish line in Sunday’s ninth stage.
Such is the life of a grand tour race leader.
The 29-year-old defended the jersey in Sunday’s weather-marred stage, and after Monday’s rest day, will carry his lead into Tuesday’s next stage with the decisive 25.8km individual time trial.
Right now, Kuss is soaking it all in.
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His rise to the top of the leader board Saturday made him the first American male to lead a grand tour in a decade, and the first to lead the Vuelta since Chris Horner won in 2013.
Tuesday’s time trial could prove more decisive than the Tourmalet or Angliru climbs looming in the final week of the Vuelta for Kuss and his aspirations to join the elite club of American grand tour winners.
Long a worker for others, Kuss is boldly stepping into the leadership role with determined confidence on the bike, and his trademark relaxed demeanor off of it.
Here’s how Kuss enjoyed his first 24 hours in the “maillot rojo” of the 2023 Vuelta a España:
Saturday evening: Team dinner and champagne toast
Sepp Kuss celebrates Saturday evening with teammate Primož Roglič in a team toast. (Photo: Jumbo-Visma/X)
It’s a long-running custom at Jumbo-Visma that the team enjoys a bit of champagne when a rider wins a stage. It takes the edge off the intensity of the racing, and lets everyone enjoy the moment.
On Saturday evening, after a long bus transfer back to the team hotel, Jumbo-Visma had double reason to celebrate.
Primoź Roglič won the stage, and Kuss climbed into the leader’s jersey.
“It was a nice day, a hard day, it was one of those days everyone gives something. For me that was the nicest memory of the day, was all the teamwork and everything,” Kuss said as he toasted his teammates. “The red jersey is super cool, something I never imagined. We’ll try to hang on to it as long as we can.”
Also read: Kuss makes history with Vuelta a España leader’s jersey
Sleep is one of the most important recovery tools for any professional cyclist. After a few messages with friends and family, Kuss hit the sack and rested up for his first full day in the red jersey.
Pre-stage media throng
Kuss talks to the media in his first day in red. (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
Any rider in red is the focus of the camera lens, but when it’s Sepp Kuss, that whirlwind grows into a media tornado.
Everyone wanted to know how he spent the night, what it feels like to be leading a grand tour, and if he thinks he can win the whole thing?
“Yesterday Primož gave me the advice to wear it sleeping, but it was a bit too hot in the hotel room last night,” Kuss joked. “So we will see if I can use it for some nice pajamas.”
Family portrait #LaVuelta23 pic.twitter.com/Dbj9JfqeKN
— Gregor Brown (@gregorbrown) September 3, 2023
Each morning is also filled with pre-race protocols of signing in with the entire team, and fans gave Kuss a warm welcome in Cartagena. Already fluent in Spanish, he is quickly becoming a favorite with fans and media across Spain.
Kuss took a few moments to visit his wife before pushing on.
“It’s a really nice experience. I saw my wife before the stage and she said she didn’t even recognize me with all these new colors,” he said.
Stage 9: Far from routine
Sepp Kuss was positioned perfectly when echelons blew up the stage. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
With forecasters calling for intense rain and high wind, the peloton was one edge right from the start.
Jumbo-Visma is one of the best in the peloton in riding in the wind. The Dutch-born squad knows an echelon when it sees one, and safely tucked Kuss and the team’s GC leaders at the front of the race as the bunch fractured under high winds.
🐝 Sepp will have decent domestiques for Stage 9 | #LaVuelta23
—3x Vuelta a España & 1x Giro d’Italia GC winner
—2x Tour de France GC winner
—Giro d’Italia GC podium finisher
—Paris-Roubaix winner
—Giro d’Italia stage winner
—Robert Gesink
—GT Stage 20 specialist Attila Valter pic.twitter.com/C2IolUOz7k
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) September 2, 2023
“We decided to be it would be better to be aggressive than defensive, especially with the wind straight from the start,” Kuss said. “There was already small echelons in the first town, and we kept rotating at the front. It’s always better to be in the front than behind. It was impressive by those guys to be attentive like that.”
Kuss thanked his teammates profusely after the stage for keeping him out of trouble.
Controversial finale, fine with Kuss
Kuss rolls in with others after the final 2km were neutralized Sunday. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Yet another Vuelta stage was thrown into chaos due to bad weather. This time, it was mud on the road near the finish line.
Forecasters issued an extreme weather warning for much of Spain on Sunday, and rain and wind swept down on the summit finish area.
Some sectors of the finishing straight at the top of the climb were covered in mud, and officials made the controversial decision to take the GC times with about 2km to go.
That was just fine by Kuss, who didn’t want to risk falling or getting caught behind a tangle of riders on the narrow, technical, and muddy finale.
“For me it was the right decision (about the finale),” Kuss said. “The wheels were really slipping in the curves and the asphalt wasn’t that great. The climb was pretty steep. It was dangerous coming into these curves, and in the last 500m, there could have been some riders falling when a group comes in with 10 to 15 riders.”
When you’re the race leader, everyone wants to know your opinion.
Another podium, another jersey
Kuss is a fan favorite at the Vuelta. (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
Kuss was back on the podium for the finish-line protocol.
As a race leader, there’s up to an extra hour of post-stage activity that the rest of the peloton doesn’t have to deal with.
There are podium ceremonies and protocols, post-stage interviews and press conferences, and extra doping controls. All of that takes time.
Teammates will often leave in the team bus, and a sport director or staffer will drive Kuss down to the team hotel later in a team car.
At the end of his first day in red, Kuss couldn’t have been more satisfied with how it turned out.
“It was really encouraging with all the guys that we had, we always had really good numbers with those groups,” he said. “It was definitely not an easy day for anybody.”
The most important thing was to defend red. And he did.
He might have lost a few seconds to Roglič and a few others who peeled away just ahead of the adjusted finish line. But it was mission accomplished.
“Yes, it was really hard, a lot harder than it looked on paper,” Kuss said. “And especially with how hard the stage was before. It was a tough finish, very explosive, but I think there were some gaps just because of how hard the day was.”
Rest day, well, sort of
Jumbo-Visma is living up to its favorite status at the Vuelta a España. (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
Rest days are one of the biggest misnomers in the elite peloton.
And even more so when you’re the race leader of a grand tour.
First, Kuss and his teammates flew nearly 600km to Valladolid, site of Tuesday’s individual time trial.
Monday’s rest day will include a training ride, inspection of the TT course, and a few more interviews.
And there’s a message, dinner, and maybe a few quiet moments with family and friends.
“I will go out on the TT bike to get comfortable with the bike, and then I will be relaxed in the hotel, maybe do a few interviews,” Kuss said. “I have a visit from some friends in the United States, and enjoy the moment. Not much else.”
Well, it is a rest day in the sense that they won’t be racing.
Time trial could decide fate
Kuss will need a strong TT if he wants to retain the gains he made Thursday. (Photo: Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
Kuss could be out of red as soon as Tuesday’s finish line.
But maybe not.
The 25.8km course is mostly flat, with the potential of heavy crosswinds. That’s not ideal ground for Kuss and his skinny, mountain specialist frame.
He’s got a solid lead on riders like Evenepoel, Vingegaard, and Roglič, but in a time trial, it’s every man for himself.
Kuss will be hoping for the ride of his life to defend red.
“Oh, I am pretty relaxed about it. I will give it my best, that is all I can do,” Kuss said. “I just have to be relaxed and confident. So far I feel good, so we will see in the time trial.”
And who is the leader inside the Jumbo-Visma team bus?
So far, the team’s racing with a one-for-all, all-for-one mentality, and the legs will tell who’s strongest.
“I know the quality of those guys,” Kuss said of his teammates. “We still have three of us, and I will give it my best. The hardest stages of the Vuelta are still to come. We will have to see how we play it.”