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ARCOS DE LAS SALINAS, Spain (Velo) — Sepp Kuss was smiling. The Colorado climber was high-fiving the fans. Didn’t he know he was racing for the red jersey at the Vuelta a España?
It didn’t matter.
It’s the moment that counts, and Kuss was going to enjoy it for all it was worth as he flew to his second career Vuelta stage win in a near-perfect day for Jumbo-Visma in Thursday’s sixth stage.
After the podium celebration, Kuss chugged a big pull on a bottle of local cava after spraying the fans.
This is how you celebrate a stage win.
“I gave everything I had. When I knew I could win the stage, I wanted to enjoy the moment and just soak it in,” Kuss said. “The whole day I felt super good. I was only thinking about when to go, and when to try to make the difference.
“The whole climb I was just enjoying the special environment we have in the Vuelta. It’s always a special race for me.”
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Kuss is already a certified superstar in cycling, and this stage win is just another jewel in the crown.
At 29, he is one of the peloton’s most lethal climbers, and when he’s on a good day, he’s hard to beat.
Sepp Kuss on victory: ‘We have to enjoy this’
Sepp Kuss celebrates his second career stage win at the Vuelta a España. (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
Thursday’s summit finish was one of those days.
Jumbo-Visma deployed a near-perfect tactic, and placed four riders into a big, 40-rider group that peeled away. The rest of the team rode the vapors and waited for the moment to pounce.
Kuss’ win was the icing on the cake for the team. Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard clawed back about 30 seconds on defending champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), and even though Kuss didn’t get the red jersey, it’s almost better for Jumbo-Visma not to have it yet.
“It was an incredibly hard stage. We wanted to try to go into the breakaway to test Quick-Step, that was the primary objective,” Kuss said. “We were in there Dylan, Jan, Attila, and they rode super good. I have to thank them a lot for the work they did.
“For me to win a stage is just incredible,” Kuss said. “One day at a time, first we have to enjoy this.”
Groupama-FDJ will ride to defend red for French sensation Lenny Martinez, the son of Olympic mountain bike gold medalist and roadie Miguel Martinez.
Kuss, whose racing roots are also in mountain biking, said he doesn’t know Miguel Martinez personally, but is certainly aware of the French rider’s pedigree.
“I didn’t know his father, but Durango is a town of mountain bike legends, with Ned Overend and John Tomac,” Kuss said. “My old mountain bike coach gave me posters of Lenny Martinez’ dad, and it was hanging in the garage. It’s cool to be racing with his son, and it’s also a realization how much I am than some of these young guys.”
Speaking before the stage, sport director Merijn Zeeman told Velo how important Kuss is to the team.
“Everyone likes Sepp. He gets along with everyone, and he brings positive energy into the team buss,” Zeeman told Velo. “We also know we can count on him. He’s very professional and he always does his job.”
Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard also expressed his gratitude to Kuss, and wished he would have ended Thursday’s stage in red.
“Sepp is an amazing guy and he really deserves it,” Vingegaard said. “He would have deserved that red jersey, but the stage win is also amazing.”
Sepp Kuss: ‘I feel better now than I did after the Giro’
Sepp Kuss is a fan favorite in North America and in Spain. (Photo: JOSE JORDAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Kuss is not only wildly popular with American fans, but Spanish fans have taken a shine to him as well.
Now fluent in Spanish, local media often speaks to him in Spanish, and his partner is also Spanish.
In fact, last summer’s move into a new home in Andorra might have played a role in seeing him abandon the 2022 Vuelta, one of only two grand tours that he hasn’t finished.
“Last year between the Tour and the Vuelta, we moved into a new house. It didn’t seem very difficult, but it cost me a lot. Between moving boxes and everything that goes with moving, and I just didn’t have the time to properly recover from the Tour,” Kuss said. “In the Vuelta, I got a really bad illness after eight or nine stages, and I had to pull out.”
Kuss is clearly flying, and the question begs: could he win this Vuelta?
The ever modest Kuss was quick to bat away that suggestion, insisting that he’s pleased to be where he is.
“I did everything I could. I don’t know where I could gain anything to be in the red jersey. It was everything about having the stage win,” Kuss said. “I am more than happy with that, and we have Primož and Jonas to chase the red jersey.”
It’s obvious that Kuss is strong, and his presence nearly two and a half minutes ahead of Remco Evenepoel will only give Jumbo-Visma another hammer to try to nail the Belgian star.
“This year, I recovered well from the Tour, and I could prepare myself better this year,” Kuss said. “Right now, I feel better now than I did between the Giro and the Tour.”
That much was obvious when he bolted clear from the breakaway group to dash to his second Vuelta win. The first one came in 2019 when he was a rising prospect winning his first European race.
Now he’s racked up stages in the Tour de France and the Critérium du Dauphiné. He’s such a key component of Jumbo-Visma’s grand tour successes that everyone calls him in the “Mailman,” because he always delivers.
“Tomorrow is an easy stage, and then we can try to get someone in another breakaway. I’d like to go into another breakaway, but now it’s going to more difficult that they let me ride away,” Kuss said. “It’s very nice to be close to the red jersey. I’d love to have the jersey, but I have to enjoy this stage win right now.
“If I could get the red jersey, I’d love that, but we also have two big leaders with Primož and Jonas for the GC.”
Coming close to the leader’s jersey is just part of the fun.