Sepp Kuss became the first American to win one of Europe’s Grand Tours since Chris Horner in 2013, arriving in Madrid on Sunday evening as champion of the 2023 Vuelta a España.
As the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Kaden Groves won the Vuelta’s final sprint finish in the Spanish capital, Kuss’s Jumbo-Visma team took their third Grand Tour of the year, after winning the Giro d’Italia, through Primoz Roglic, and the Tour de France, through Jonas Vingegaard.
The Dutch team also took a clean sweep in the overall standings, with Vingegaard and Roglic taking second and third overall, respectively, in the Vuelta.
The team’s unprecedented dominance of the 2023 season has fuelled some scepticism, particularly after their rider Michel Hessmann tested positive for a banned diuretic in June and was investigated by German authorities.
Speaking at his winner’s press conference, Kuss was clear in his rejection of performance enhancement. “For me personally, cheating or doping is just out of the question because it’s not even sports for me then,” the Coloradan said.
“Part of sports is losing, and of course you want to win, but if you’re doing something that’s prohibited or cheating then you’re afraid of losing which, I think, is one of the most important things about sports: accepting that sometimes you’re not good enough.”
Vingegaard, as he did during the Tour de France, said he “understood the scepticism” but added: “People also need to know how much we sacrifice for everything and how much we do everything in detail. We go into every detail to be as good as possible. I think that especially in this team, we do everything perfectly and it makes such a big difference. I don’t think that people realise how much of a difference it makes. I’m 100% sure that my two colleagues are not taking anything as well as myself.”
Kuss, who withstood an awkward leadership tussle with his superstar teammates, is one of the most popular and well-liked Grand Tour winners in recent years. Whether his win will be a one-off, or the beginning of a new phase in his career, is hard to tell. “He clearly deserves more chances,” Vingegaard said of Kuss, “but that means that I will lose a great teammate in the mountains.”
Meanwhile, a battered Geraint Thomas, second to Roglic in the Giro, was left to lick his wounds. The Ineos Grenadiers leader fell victim to serial crashes in Spain and subsequently slid far down the overall standings.
“I just didn’t want to quit when I could still race or ride,” he told GCN at the finish of stage 20. “I wouldn’t say I’ve been racing much – I’ve been hanging in there – but coming here as a leader I felt like I had to really commit for the boys and hang around, and to be there for morale.”
The British team, who in the heyday of Team Sky once themselves talked of winning all three Grand Tours, had little to celebrate other than a time trial stage win from the reliable Filippo Ganna.
The team have been beset by rumours of big‑money transfers, mergers and takeovers throughout the summer, but aside from an exodus of key riders, including 2020 Giro winner, Tao Geoghegan Hart, there has been little concrete to report.
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The pursuit of the world time trial champion, Remco Evenepoel, winner of the King of the Mountains in the Vuelta, appears to have now stalled, while rumours that a disgruntled Roglic might also be a transfer target have been quashed.
Clouded by uncertainty while crying out for renewal, the once dominant team are now limping towards the end of the year. But then no other lineup this year, even Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Emirates, has been able to respond to the unrelenting superiority of Kuss, Vingegaard, Roglic and their colleagues.
