Sepp Kuss explains why his wins rarely follow the script

“I had a good pre-season, I feel good. Nothing out of the ordinary, but good,” Kuss told Marca at the Tour of Oman where he is one of the favourites for the general classification. “I am eager to race and to start the season with a race that is new for me.” 

The winter did bring change within the team, with Simon Yates stepping away due to motivation problems. Kuss acknowledges the impact on plans, while making clear that his own path remains largely intact. “It changed several plans, especially for the Tour, or at least the idea of having him as a secondary leader,” he said. 

“But for me personally it has not changed that much. I still have the same calendar and, in principle, the same role for the most important races.” The initial shock passed quickly. “It was news that surprised us a lot, but we have to move on.”

That is the short term. The longer story is that his position has been shifting since his Vuelta win in 2023. Not in personality, but in the room he is sometimes given inside a race. In Oman, that means the freedom to chase something for himself. “In this race I have freedom to go for a result and see how things unfold,” he said. “When I go to a race and I have an opportunity, I always like to take it.”

Kuss expects this season fewer races where he starts as a protected option. Often, he will be in support of Jonas Vingegaard, which he frames as a positive rather than a limitation. He is scheduled to race both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in service of his Danish leader. 

“Many times I ride with Jonas, but for me that is fine because in Grand Tours things always happen,” he said. “If I have freedom on a stage, I would like to play my card and take advantage of it.”

With the team evolving, he also feels a stronger responsibility as one of the longer serving figures. “I am one of the riders who has been in the team the longest,” the 31-year-old American said. “Now I have more responsibility to advise the younger riders, to be a good example and to pass on the team culture.”

Asked where he feels most at home, he is honest about the mental load of leadership. “It is always easier to be a domestique because you do not carry the mental fatigue of a leader,” Kuss said. “Very often good things happen to me without that pressure.” 

He has seen it often enough to trust it. “Almost all my victories have come that way, in slightly unexpected circumstances.”

That also feeds into his affinity with Spain. “Maybe La Vuelta fits me better because it is a race with less stress than the Tour,” he concluded.