For many years he worked as a loyal domestic, he has not been given a free hand at a big race until now. It wasn’t planned even now, but when he donned the red jersey after the eighth stage and showed great performance in the mountains, the vision of his team Jumbo-Visma changed.
The Dutch stable revealed great potential. Win all three Grand Tour seasons, plus each with a different competitor? This has never been seen in history and it will bring great publicity to the team. And in the end, Kuss’ star teammates helped bring the red jersey all the way to Madrid.
“I’m extremely happy for Sepp, he really deserves it. If he wants, he will get a chance to go on the overall ranking in other races as well. Hopefully he will want to,” confided Tour de France winner and one-man teammate Jonas Vingegaard.
Kuss’ feat is all the more unique because he is the only one from the entire peloton to complete the Giro, Tour and Vuelta in one year. And on all three three-week stages, he was clearly visible. He crowned the season of his life with a triumph in Spain and drove his native Durango, a town of 20 thousand inhabitants, crazy.
In interviews, he alternated between English and Spanish, which he has excellent command of, as he lives and trains in Andorra. And he himself admitted that he does not really understand what actually happened. “I’m enthralled, there’s a crazy amount of feelings in me. I’m not used to this much attention,” smiled Kuss.
During the ceremonial arrival in Madrid, he was the main object in the spotlight. And he heard compliments from all sides. “He still remains himself. In the morning on the bus, he mentioned that this victory means the same success to him as the victories of Vingegaard at the Tour and Roglič at the Giro. That says it all,” explained the team’s sporting director, Marc Reef.
Competitors also had words of appreciation. “He was the strongest and showed it throughout the race, sometimes even without the help of his teammates. No one deserves to win more than him,” the 21-year-old Spaniard Juan Ayuso, the fourth man in the overall standings, nodded approvingly.
Kuss also received a tribute from one of the most experienced, the second man of this year’s Giro, Geraint Thomas. “Sepp is a great guy. He always helps out and drives great for others, so it’s great to see him enjoying his moment of fame now. At the same time, at the beginning of the Vuelta, I thought that he had no chance of dropping out. But he proved me wrong. And that’s great,” praised the 37-year-old Briton.
