Sepp Kuss Is Set to Defend His Vuelta a España Title This August
Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) was notably absent from this year’s Tour de France. He was forced to drop out of the Critérium du Dauphiné back in June due to COVID-19 and did not recover enough to join the team roster for the Tour.
However, Visma-Lease a Bike just announced that Kuss is heading back to defend his Vuelta a España title this year and hopes for a repeat of 2023. The rest of the team for La Vuelta has yet to be set, though Matteo Jorgenson will not be racing there after a busy summer at the Tour and the Paris Olympics.
“The plan was to do the Tour and the Vuelta, and now he’s good again and training well. That’s the plan [to race the Vuelta],” Visma-Lease a Bike coach Grischa Niermann told Velo.
Once again, COVID-19 played a major role in the Tour de France, where Kuss would have played a key role in support of Vingegaard. We saw several riders abandon the Tour after testing positive, and the rumor mill churned plenty of stories of riders continuing in the Tour knowingly infected.
But Kuss took the opportunity to spend more time at home in Andorra with his family, get completely healthy, and then resume training. Last week, he announced on social media that he and his wife, Noemi Ferré, are expecting their first child any week now, and in general, life seems good for the Colorado-raised domestique.
Last year, Kuss stunned the world—except for anyone who grew up with him—when he won his first Grand Tour at La Vuelta a España. Kuss was obsessed with cycling from a young age and throughout his professional career. He took over the Red Jersey last year after Stage 8 and kept it until the end of the stage race.
The race around Spain starts on Saturday, August 17, and runs until September 8, ending in Madrid. The race begins with a time trial in Lisbon, Portugal, but will again be stacked with mountain stages, where Kuss shines. In fact, there’s only one flat stage in all 21 days of racing. Such a climby tour is certain to favor the “Durango Kid,” and we look forward to watching come August.
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