Sepp Kuss facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Sepp Kuss

Kuss at the 2023 Vuelta a España
Personal information
Nickname	The Durango Kid The Mailman The Eagle of Durango
Born	(1994-09-13) September 13, 1994 (age 30) Durango, Colorado
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight	61 kg (134 lb; 9 st 8 lb)
Team information
Current team	Visma–Lease a Bike
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber Super-domestique
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France 1 individual stage (2021) Vuelta a España General classification (2023) 2 individual stages (2019, 2023) 1 TTT stage (2022) Stage races Vuelta a Burgos (2024) Tour of Utah (2018)

Sepp Kuss (born September 13, 1994) is an American professional cyclist from Durango, Colorado. He is the winner of the 2023 Vuelta a España, becoming the first American to do so since Chris Horner in 2013. Kuss currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike, where he has primarily served as a domestique. A talented climber, he has played a crucial role in helping team leaders Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard secure a combined six Grand Tour victories. Throughout his career, Kuss has also achieved individual success, winning stages at both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España. He is one of only two riders to win a Grand Tour having finished all three Grand Tours in the same year.

Career

Early career

Kuss started out in mountain bike racing as a junior and as a student at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he won three national titles at the Collegiate championships in XC (2014 and 2015) and Short Track (2014). His cycling ambitions at the time were to take cycling as far as he could after finishing his degree. When asked which one person he would want to sit and have lunch with he answered Peter Sagan.

Kuss began the 2016 season racing for the amateur Gateway Harley Davidson / Trek team. His first win was on a summit finish stage in the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Kuss finished fourth at the Mogollon stage at the Tour of the Gila, a UCI 2.2 stage race. He rode with Rally Cycling in the latter part of 2016 and during 2017, before joining LottoNL–Jumbo, initially on a two-year contract.

2018–present

Kuss won 3 stages and the general classification at the 2018 Tour of Utah.

He rode in the 2018 Vuelta a España and the 2019 Giro d'Italia. before getting his first grand tour stage win in stage 15 of the 2019 Vuelta a España, launching a solo attack from the day's breakaway with 7 kilometers to go, and supporting his team leader Primož Roglič who won the overall classification. He finished 15th overall in the 2020 Tour de France, again riding in support of Roglič. This was also the highest overall placing for an American since Andrew Talansky in 2015.

Kuss again supported Roglič's winning ride in the 2020 Vuelta a España.

In July 2021, Kuss won stage 15 of the Tour de France after breaking away with 5 km to go to up the final climb of the day, the Col de Beixalis, from a group that had contained 32 riders. He was able to maintain his lead ahead of Alejandro Valverde in the 15 km that followed the pass. With this win Kuss became the first American to win a stage of the Tour de France since Tyler Farrar, who won stage 3 in 2011.

Kuss at the 2022 Tour de France

During the 2021 Vuelta a España Kuss and his teammates Steven Kruijswijk and Sam Oomen rode in support of Roglič, who was going for his third consecutive Vuelta title. Kuss started the race strong taking the King of the Mountains jersey for two stages. He was one of the strongest riders in the race on the climb to Lagos de Covadonga on stage 17. As the finish line approached the sprint for second place began after Roglič won the stage and Kuss beat everyone else to the line to deny the bonus seconds to Roglič's rivals. He ended the race in eighth place overall, the highest for an American since Talansky in five years earlier. This was his first top 10 in a grand tour, and Roglič once again won the Vuelta.

Kuss (right) riding in support of Primož Roglič at the 2023 Giro d'Italia

As a warmup for the upcoming Tour, Team Jumbo-Visma sent their primary favorites in Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard to the Critérium du Dauphiné, while Kuss was given the opportunity to ride in the 2022 Tour de Suisse and target the general classification. Kuss rode strong and was within +0:10 of the lead after stage 4, but prior to stage 5 the entire team had to abandon the race due to COVID.

Kuss (right) riding in support of Jonas Vingegaard at the 2023 Tour de France

During the first two weeks of the 2022 Tour de France he rode in support of Roglič, Vingegaard, and Wout Van Aert as the team sought stage wins and to challenge defending champion Tadej Pogačar for the Yellow Jersey, both of which they were successful in doing. After the withdrawal of Roglič and Steven Kruijswijk crashing out on stage 15 it became clear the heavy work of defending Vingegaard would fall on Kuss in the final high mountain stages. He shepherded Vingegaard up Hautacam, the final HC climb, as he had done for Roglič so many times in other grand tours, until the Dane attacked and tightened his grip on the race. The team was so successful that they held the yellow, green and polka dot jerseys as the race neared its end, and won them.

Kuss rode in support of Roglič's victory in the 2023 Giro d'Italia and Vingegaard's win in the 2023 Tour de France. He rode his third Grand Tour of the year in the 2023 Vuelta a España as Jumbo-Visma attempted to become the first cycling team in history to sweep all three Grand Tours in a single season. On Stage 6, he won after attacking from a breakaway group of 40 riders, moving him into second place in the General Classification, eight seconds behind Lenny Martinez who was also in the day's breakaway. Two days later, Kuss moved into the overall lead of the race after finishing a minute ahead of Martinez. He successfully defended his lead for the remainder of the race, despite losing some time to Vingegaard. He became the first cyclist to both ride all three Grand Tours and win one in the same season since Gastone Nencini in 1957. Also for the first time in history, the same team has won all three grand tours in the same season.

In 2024, Kuss was originally named in the team list for the 2024 Tour de France, but was scratched before the race began due to a Covid infection.

Despite this interruption to his preparation, Kuss rode well in his next race, the 2024 Vuelta a Burgos, winning on a mountain-top finish on stage 3 and then defending to take the overall win by 5 seconds. Kuss started the 2024 Vuelta a España, but was unable to defend his title and finished the race in 14th place.

Personal life

Kuss is of Slovenian descent. He married Noemí Ferré Fernández, a Spanish professional cyclist, in 2022.

Major results

Mountain bike

Road

General classification results timeline

Sources:

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Giro d'Italia	—	56	—	—	—	14	—
Tour de France	—	—	15	32	17	12	—
Vuelta a España	65	29	16	8	DNF	1	14
Major stage race general classification results
Race	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Paris–Nice	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Tirreno–Adriatico	—	—	—	—	68	—	—
Volta a Catalunya	—	DNF	NH	12	—	19	13
Tour of the Basque Country	DNF	95		—	DNF	—	41
Tour de Romandie	—	—		14	12	—	—
Critérium du Dauphiné	34	26	10	23	—	—	DNF
Tour de Suisse	—	—	NH	—	DNF	—	—

See also

In Spanish: Sepp Kuss para niños