Sepp Kuss is back to winning ways, and not a moment too soon. After a bout with COVID-19 and a lengthy recovery from the illness derailed his early summer ambitions, the 29-year-old American returned to racing at the Vuelta a Burgos this week and on Wednesday he climbed to the stage 3 victory and the race lead at Lagunas de Neila.
“I struggled for quite a long time with the after-effects of COVID,” he said after the win. “Fortunately, I am now back on level and the confidence is back. I’m ready to defend my title in the Vuelta.”
On the heels of the impressive 2023 campaign that saw him race all three Grand Tours and take the overall victory at the Vuelta a España, Kuss hit some bumps in the road this season. He had been slated to race the Tour de France in support of Jonas Vingegaard, but he abandoned the Critérium du Dauphiné after the penultimate stage and was ultimately scratched from the Tour lineup as he continued to recover from COVID-19.
He did not race again until the 2.Pro-rated Vuelta a Burgos started on Monday in north-central Spain, and it hasn’t been smooth sailing there either, as Kuss hit the deck in a crash on Monday’s opening stage and then again on Tuesday.
Apparently, however, Kuss made it through those incidents relatively unscathed, as he proved on Wednesday, where he attacked multiple times in the finale and then got clear inside the last kilometer of the 11 km finish climb. He crossed the line seven seconds ahead of Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan) and Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).
“It was a tough day, partly because of the heat,” Kuss said. “On the final climb I was struggling quite a bit, but I wanted to try at least once. When I saw I had created a gap, I went as hard as I could.”
That plan worked out, and the win put Kuss into the race lead as well.
“That Sepp put in such a performance straight away in his first race gives a lot of confidence,” said Visma sports director Marc Reef. “After his crash yesterday, we had to wait and see how he would feel today. During the race, the riders were very motivated to make the best of it. Robert [Gesink] and Johannes [Staune-Mittet ]did a good job for Cian [Uijtdebroeks] and Sepp on the last two climbs and after Cian’s attack, Sepp finished it off fantastically.”
Kuss, Uijtdebroeks and Gesink are all racing this Vuelta a Burgos as a key tune-up race ahead of the season’s final Grand Tour, as was Ben Tulett, who abandoned after going down on the opening stage. Despite the crashes, things seem to be going well enough for the team, which now has both Kuss and Uijtdebroeks in the GC top 10.
After the five-day Vuelta a Burgos concludes on Friday, Kuss is slated to race Saturday’s one-day Clásica San Sebastián, and then it’s on to the start of the Vuelta a España, which starts on August 17 in Lisbon. Kuss will be among the favorites in the Spanish Grand Tour, with former teammate and three-time Vuelta winner Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) and the formidable UAE Team Emirates trio of Juan Ayuso, Adam Yates and João Almeida among those who could also be contention.
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