Emulating or even exceeding his spectacular 2023 season was always going to be a tall order for Sepp Kuss, but the Visma-Lease a Bike rider would have preferred 2024 to go a little more according to plan.
The American, who won the 2023 Vuelta a España despite not being one of his team’s protected GC riders at the start, struggled for consistency throughout last season and missed the Tour de France after contracting Covid.
Though he won a stage and the GC of the Vuelta a Burgos, he failed to defend his Vuelta title, finishing 14th and more than 20 minutes adrift of the eventual victor Primož Roglič.
“It wasn’t the best season for me. Until then I’d always had pretty good years without any bad luck or illnesses, so it was the first season that I had any setbacks,” the Coloradan, 30, said.
“I was happy to win at least one race and I can be happy with that, but overall it was a shame to miss the Tour and everything that comes with that. Not every year is a perfect upward trajectory. You have to roll with the bad luck and normal setbacks when they happen.
“As a cyclist you always need a certain level of confidence based on what you’ve done in the past. Training is one thing, but when the results don’t meet your expectations, it’s always difficult.
“I think that’s normal for any athlete to have to bounce back from that. It was no disaster or anything, but I know it’s hard to always be at your top level or to stay there.”
Kuss’s 2025 program won’t be too dissimilar to what it usually is: after racing the Volta ao Algarve, Volta a Catalunya and Itzulia Basque Country in the early spring, he’ll be one of Jonas Vingegaard’s key helpers in the Tour de France, before then returning to the Vuelta for an eighth successive appearance.
“There’s no need to change the recipe,” he said. “The main objectives are the Grand Tours. I want to be at my best in those two races. I know for the spring I am not always at my best, but I use those races as a building block for the summer races.
“This year I’ll have a longer and slower build up. Last year was shorter but more intensive in the beginning. In the first races I felt good, but then I tapered off later. I just have to go to the first races without any expectation, see how it is, and with the focus always on the summer.”
The unassuming Kuss, the first American to win a three-week race since Chris Horner also won the Vuelta 10 years earlier, indicated that he was prepared to park his own GC ambitions in 2025.
“It's a role I’ve never really been in aside from the Vuelta last year and even in the 2023 Vuelta it was never remotely on my radar to be a leader in a Grand Tour, but it turned out that way,” he said. “I wouldn’t say upfront I am looking for leadership in a Grand Tour, or looking for the opposite.
“For me, if there are opportunities that come along the way, I’ll take them like I have in the past, but also in the past whenever I’ve performed it’s never been in a way that upfront it was known that I’d be the one to perform.
“I take every race in my stride and see where I can get an opportunity. I’m not looking to overtake anybody within the team. We have some super good riders and I want to help them first and then we’ll see what I can get out of it for myself.”
In returning to be first and foremost a super mountain domestique, Kuss said: “It’s a role I really like, and it’s a role that’s a lot easier than being a leader in a race. I think it’s a role that I can do quite well, and do it comfortably and enjoy it.”
His personal goal for the forthcoming season is to be at his best when he needs to be. “I want to be more consistent, stay healthy, and have good luck,” he said.
“Nowadays in cycling, you need each day and each week to build on, because if you miss a little bit, you notice it immediately in the races unless you have crazy talent, like some guys.”
