On Sunday, Durangoan Sepp Kuss rolled into Paris completing his fourth Tour de France with a time of 82 hours 43 minutes and 14 seconds, placing 12th in the General Classification. His finish was both a personal record as well as a source of pride for the Durango community.
“It’s just amazing how many community members follow the tour, now that Sepp is in it,” said Chad Cheeney, who coached Sepp in middle and high school on the Durango Devo team. “He’s one of the greatest athletes Durango has ever produced.”
While a 12th place finish is nothing short of phenomenal, Kuss spent much of the tour in the top 10 General Classification rankings.
As Kuss entered Stage 20 of the race, in ninth place in the GC, he was only 16:32 behind GC leader and fellow Jumbo-Visma teammate Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark). About 25 kilometers into the 133.5 km stage, Kuss and Carlos Rodriguez of INEOS Grenadiers crashed on the descent of Ballon d’Alsace.
As the racers rounded a steep curve, their bikes slid out, leaving them with facial and bodily abrasions. Both racers were treated by official race doctors and permitted to continue the tour.
For Kuss, the crash meant slipping out of the top 10 GC riders. He finished the stage 83rd, putting him in the 12th overall GC ranking.
Despite the setback, he appeared to remain in good spirits.
“It’s how it goes, I’m just happy I could finish the stage and that we have the yellow jersey,” Kuss said. “That’s what got me through the day.”
Kuss has been a member of team Jumbo-Visma since 2018. He has competed in the Tour de France with the team for four consecutive years, serving in the helping role of super domestique.
“He’s the last man standing for his leader,” said Sabina Kuss, Sepp’s mother. “He’s the last man standing to bring his leader in for the win.”
Much of Sepp’s strength as a racer lies in his performances in climbing stages, making him additionally valuable as a climbing domestique.
Sepp sets the pace for this leader as well letting his leader stay in his draft, said Cheeney.
“He’s basically just like a right hand man to the main leader on the team to prevent others from attacking the them,” Cheeney said.
As a domestique, Sepp’s primary goal is to get his team leader, in this case Vingegaard, in the coveted yellow GC leader jersey.
“Even if Sepp could go faster and get a (Stage) win, he won’t leave his leader behind,” Sabina said. “His dedication is to his leader, once his leader is ready to attack, Sepp’s job is more or less done.”
By the time he has served his job aiding his leader, Sabina says Sepp has expended so much energy that he often lacks the ability to secure his own placing. This does not seem to bother the “Durango Kid.”
“He’s super content being a super domestique,” Sabina said.
The efforts of team Jumbo-Visma proved fruitful. Vingegaard won the Tour de France for the second consecutive year, leading second place Slovenian Tadej Pogacar of the UAE Team Emirates by 07:29. Jumbo-Visma also won the team race with a collective time of 247:19:41, leading second place UAE Team Emirates by 13:49.
Despite the immense success Sepp has achieved in the cycling world, Sabina says he has maintained his signature “Sepp personality.”
“In a race, Sepp would be the first person to stop and help somebody,” Sabina said. “If we’re on the sideline, he’ll stop and blow a kiss or grab our hand.”
Sepp adopted his fun first, win second mentality early in his cycling career. His experience with competitive cycling began in about fourth grade when he got involved with the Durango Devo team.
“(Devo) didn’t try to produce competitors, they were just sharing the pure joy of ‘this is what we love to do,’ and Sepp captured that always,” Sabina said. “He’s not intent on himself and trying to be the first across the line.”
Cheeney said it was Sepp’s father, Dolph, who inspired him to adopt the fun-centric training style Sabina spoke so highly of.
“Back then (cycling) was all about training the engine in these juniors all over the country. I was more about having fun and playing and not much structure,” Cheeney said. “Even though we’re highly competitive, all that was in disguise. So even though (the kids) didn’t think they were training, they were but it was just playing games and stuff.”
Cheeney also attributed Sepp’s racing mentality to his parents.
“His family was very good about just inspiring passions, through outdoor sports. Whatever it was, if it was Nordic or cycling – those are Sepp’s main sports – they just never pushed him,” Cheeney said. “They’re just like, ‘Do what you want, have fun with it.’ So competition was never first and foremost in his family.”
Sepp first rose to the international spotlight after dominating the 2018 Tour of Utah.
“That’s when everybody was like ‘holy crap, this kid’s amazing,’” Cheeney said. “He attacked the climbing stages way before people would normally attack in a road race. And he was just smiling up the whole climb and everybody on TV was like, ‘You know, he’s having so much fun.’ He’s just up there smiling with his tongue out. And right after that he got noticed big time.”
Now, Sepp has 10 grand tours under his belt, and is considering adding his 11th next month with the Vuelta a España. Sepp has already completed both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this year.
“That would be three Grand Tours in a year. It sounds like he’s up for it, but oh boy, that’s a lot,” said Dave Hagen, former Fort Lewis College Cycling director. “There are very few riders who’ve ever done it, and it’s for a reason.”
Sabina plans on visiting Sepp at both the race’s start and finish, should he choose to compete.
While she worries about Sepp, she trusts him to do what’s right for him.
“He pushes himself hard, he’s always been self-motivated,” she said. “He’s always made really solid, good decisions. I don’t remember him ever saying, ‘Mom, what do you think I should do?’ He would just tell us what he decided. But he gives thought and figures it out on his own.”
lveress@duarngoherald.com
