Sepp Kuss will ride the 2023 Vuelta a España, playing a vital support role for Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard, as he completes his third Grand Tour of 2023.
The 28-year-old from Colorado helped Roglic win the Giro d’Italia in May and then had a key role in Vingegaard’s victory at the Tour de France in July. He has not raced since the Tour but has been training and testing his form at altitude at his European home in Andorra.
Kuss has been part of the Jumbo-Visma line-up when they have won Grand Tour in recent years, providing precious mountain support in strategically decisive mountain stages at the Vuelta (2019-2021), the 2022 and 2023 Tours and then 2023 Giro. Jumbo-Visma are targeting overall victory in all three Grand Tours in 2023.
Velo first reported that Kuss would ride the Vuelta, with sources confirming his presence to Cyclingnews.
Jumbo-Visma are expected to soon name their full Vuelta roster, with Wilco Kelderman, Dylan van Baarle, Robert Gesink, Valter Attila and Jan Tratnik expected to complete the super team roster.
The Vuelta starts in Barcelona with a 14.8km team time trial, with the mid-race mountain stages set to be decisive.
Roglic and Vingegaard will take on Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Juan Ayuso and Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in the final Grand Tour of the 2023 season.
Kuss crashed hard during stage 20 of the Tour, finishing the stage with his face covered in bandages, but he appears to have recovered quickly from his injuries and from the fatigue of the race.
