After winning the Tour of Spain, Sepp Kuss has reached the goal of his dreams, but the American professional cyclist doesn’t want to change.
“I’ll still be myself – it changed my life, but I think I’ll look back on this experience with a lot of beautiful memories,” said Kuss after the final stage of the Vuelta at the finish in Madrid.
“I can’t quite realize it yet and it will take a while,” said the 29-year-old, who celebrated his first Grand Tour title.
In recent years, Kuss has mostly driven as a strong helper for the Jumbo-Visma team and supported the Dane Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic from Slovenia in their tour victories.
“Usually I’m on the other side. I’m often on the winning teams, but to be the one wearing the jersey is just incredible. So yes, I’m still living a dream,” said Kuss, who won the Tour-de- France winner Vingegaard and the three-time Vuelta winner Roglic left behind this time.
“We made history and took all three places on the podium,” said Vingegaard, trying to defuse criticism of the Jumbo-Visma team’s driving style in the meantime: “We are of course super happy and proud of how this year went. I think we can call it a historic season for our team.”
In the final week of the tour, Roglic and Vingegaard attacked their teammate Kuss, who was in the lead, and thus caused controversy.
On the last difficult stage on Saturday, however, they guided their teammate to the finish without taking any action. After the triumphant journey to Madrid, the three professionals celebrated together on the podium with champagne.