Sepp Kuss completes Grand Tour set at Giro: 'I had to seize the opportunity'

Sepp Kuss had already done his job throughout this Giro d’Italia, combining with Davide Piganzoli to help Jonas Vingegaard to four mountaintop stage wins and an unassailable overall lead.

With the main prize all but secure, Visma Lease a Bike’s attention switched to side missions, and Kuss was given the freedom to infiltrate the early break on the mammoth stage 19 through the Dolomites.

The American was ostensibly policing the move as a satellite rider for Vingegaard, but the pink jersey was never likely to be put under duress here, and he came through the tappone still secure atop at the general classification.

And so by the top of the Passo Falzarego and on the final haul to Piani di Pezzè, Kuss had the freedom to chase stage victory. He hunted down Giulio Ciccone and then held off Derek Gee-West on the stiff final climb to claim the spoils and complete a full set of stage wins at the Grand Tours.

“To be honest, it was never the primary goal,” Kuss said of his victory. “The main challenge was to win the pink jersey with Jonas, and so far, it’s looking good. But when they told me the other night that I had the chance to go in the break, I knew I had to seize the opportunity.

“To be honest, it’s something I always dreamt of, but every year it gets harder and harder. I keep progressing and getting better, but so does everyone else. Every year that goes by, I think it’s going to be even harder to win a stage in the Giro to complete all three. I just can’t believe it.”

The Dolomite tappone took the race over the mighty Passo Giau, and Kuss was able to maintain a watching brief in the break as Gee-West and Michael Storer (Tudor) sought to move up the overall standings and Ciccone chased the king of the mountains points.

But Kuss and the rest of the break were caught napping over the top of the Falzarego, where Ciccone – clearly irked that Einer Rubio (Movistar) had out-sprinted him for the points – opted to continue his effort alone.

Ciccone thundered down the descent and built a lead of a minute or so over Kuss and the chasers, but the 2023 Vuelta a España picked him off on the short but steep climb to the finish. He came home 13 seconds ahead of a dogged Gee-West and 36 clear of Ciccone to win the day.

“I knew Ciccone would accelerate over the top for the mountains points,” Kuss said. “It looked like he was already slowing up over the top, but then he looked and there was a gap, and by the bottom of the climb he had one minute. So I thought, ‘Oh, it’s over.’ 

“And to be honest, I was a bit demotivated because I thought it was over. But I just tried to focus on doing the fastest climb possible. It was a steep climb, so it was a nice one for me.”

Gee-West’s persistence meant that Kuss had no time to savour his victory in the final kilometre, but he crossed the line in first place to add a Giro stage win to his triumph in Andorra on the 2021 Tour de France and his two victories on the Vuelta. 

“It was lots of suffering because I knew I had to push it all the way to the line and I went pretty deep,” Kuss said.

“But I knew my mother was going to be standing 500 metres from the finish. A big shout out to her and my family because I really only see them a few weeks every year. And it’s hard to stay in contact with everybody that far away. But yeah, it was really nice to have her there. And I’m always thinking of my family and my friends that I don't get to see so much. So yeah, this is for them.”