Sepp Kuss

Sepp Kuss
	Kuss at the 2017 Tour of Alberta
Personal information
Nickname	The Durango Kid
Born	September 13, 1994 (age 27); Durango, Colorado
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	61 kg (134 lb)
Team information
Current team	Team Jumbo–Visma
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber
Amateur team
2016	Gateway Harley Davidson / Trek
Professional teams
2016–2017	Rally Cycling
2018–	LottoNL–Jumbo
Major wins
	Grand Tours Tour de France 1 individual stage (2021) Vuelta a España 1 individual stage (2019) Stage races Tour of Utah (2018)

Sepp Kuss (born September 13, 1994) is an American professional cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jumbo–Visma.^[3]

Career[]

Kuss started out in mountain bike racing as a junior and as a student at the University of Colorado won two races at the Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals in 2014, and another in 2015 becoming a two time mountain bike xc national champion. When asked what his cycling ambitions were, he said he wanted to take cycling as far as he could after finishing his degree. When asked one person he could sit and have lunch with he answered Peter Sagan.^[4]

Kuss began the 2016 season racing for the amateur Gateway Harley Davidson / Trek team. His first win was on a summit finish stage in the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Kuss finished fourth at the Mogollon stage at the Tour of the Gila, a UCI 2.2 stage race. He rode with Rally Cycling in the latter part of 2016 and during 2017, before joining LottoNL–Jumbo, initially on a two-year contract.^[5]

He rode in the 2018 Vuelta a España^[6] and the 2019 Giro d'Italia.^[7] before getting his first grand tour stage win in stage 15 of the 2019 Vuelta a España, launching a solo attack from the day's breakaway with 7 kilometers to go, and supporting his team leader Primož Roglič who won the overall classification.^[8] He finished 15th overall in the 2020 Tour de France, while again riding in support of Roglič. This was also the highest overall placing for an American since Andrew Talansky in 2015.

Kuss again supported Roglič's winning ride in the 2020 Vuelta a Espana.^[9]

In July 2021, Kuss won stage 15 of the Tour de France after breaking away with 5 km to go to up the final climb of the day, the Col de Beixalis, from a group that had contained 32 riders. He was able to maintain his lead ahead of Spaniard Alejandro Valverde in the 15 km that followed the pass. With this win Kuss became the first American to win a stage of the Tour de France since Tyler Farrar, who won stage 3 in 2011.^[10]

During the 2021 Vuelta a España Kuss and his teammates Steven Kruijswijk and Sam Oomen rode in support of Roglič, who was going for his third consecutive Vuelta title. Kuss started the race strong taking the King of the Mountains jersey for two stages. He proved himself to be one of the strongest riders in the race on the legendary climb to Lagos de Covadonga on stage 17. As the finish line approached the sprint for 2nd place began after Roglič won the stage and Kuss beat everyone else to the line to deny the bonus seconds to Roglič's rivals.^[11] He ended the race in 8th place overall, his first grand tour finish in the top 10, as Roglič once again won the Vuelta.