Teams & Riders Sepp Kuss is the next Sepp Kuss thread

[FroomeWagon]

I get what Libertine is saying but I hardly think that Kuss would want to be cast as Mary Poppins, Kuss could never have known that he would be completely dismissed and ignored but Remco and others. Would certainly not categorize being part of a 40+ rider roll off as hyper aggressive or overly intelligent. He made lemonade out of lemons when he was astonished to be in the red jersey, He won but Remco also lost, wasn't Sepp's responsibility to alter the media and Remco that he has been climbing at the front for a couple of years, and that his ITT times are not horrible. In the Spanish interview after, he thanked his teammates, named them, and said that the winning experience was made better by doing it w them. So if being polite and considerate is a character flaw, he is certainly really really F'ed up..

I agree with everything you said.

I love Kuss and think he is a very deserving winner. Is he the strongest rider in the peloton for this race? Probably not. Did lady luck smile on him when he got into that 40 rider breakaway? Yes. Was he lucky that Vinge and Remco don't ride for other teams? Probably. Has he worked tirelessly for both Remco and Vinge over the years and been a critical component for all their of grand tour wins? Yes. Is he deserving to be called the 2023 Vuelta a Espana champion. Absolutely.

I also love the fact that not only is he the most popular rider on Jumbo, but if you listen to Gerant Thomas, he may in fact be the most popular rider in the entire peloton. It shows that sometimes nice guys do finish first. Hence, "The People's Champion"

 

[Hugh Januss]

I still think Kuss had the greatest birthday ever.

Watching him lose the wheels of his teammates on the Angliru, calling (whatever) on the radio (was a dramatic moment).... & seeing the zero sh*ts given by Rog & Vingegaard (who even glanced back... & was unmoved by what he saw) as they rode away into the fog. Beautiful.

"chef's kiss"

To be fair this was the last day of all three including Sepp, and management saying "the road will decide". Well this looks like the road deciding it ain't gonna be Sepp. It was only after this that management and Sepp stopped saying the road would decide. Sepp was just lucky that they weren't chasing Remco at this point because they would have put considerably more time into him if they were.

 

[theyoungest]

On the Angliru, he did tell Primoz and Jonas to just ride on and leave him.

Sidenote: is it just me or does it seem like, because he lives and works in an environment of non-native speakers, Sepp is struggling more and more to speak English?

Eerlijke Kuss gaat Vuelta écht winnen: 'Ik heb een nieuwe Sepp ontdekt'

Hij moet nog finishen in Madrid, maar dat is een formaliteit. Sepp Kuss, meesterknecht uit roeping, wordt de winnaar van de Vuelta. Na de finish blikt hij grondig en eerlijk terug op de afgelopen weken.

nos.nl

 

[Rackham]

To be fair this was the last day of all three including Sepp, and management saying "the road will decide". Well this looks like the road deciding it ain't gonna be Sepp. It was only after this that management and Sepp stopped saying the road would decide. Sepp was just lucky that they weren't chasing Remco at this point because they would have put considerably more time into him if they were.

I posted that unironically, i.e. it really was the most beautiful moment in this Vuelta because it was purely sport. No artifices, no pretend, no games, nothing. Just riders out there showing who the strongest is on the hardest climb in the race (& arguable the entire world tour).

It saved us from a bombardment of press releases, opinions pieces, Tweets & youtube videos explaining why Kuss was the strongest in this race.

The answer to those assertions is no. His teammates were stronger, but the team bosses said Kuss wins. Good for him. But I would have wanted a proper showdown between the other two, throughout the entire 3 weeks, not just on a couple of stages.

 

[Red Rick]

On the Angliru, he did tell Primoz and Jonas to just ride on and leave him.

Sidenote: is it just me or does it seem like, because he lives and works in an environment of non-native speakers, Sepp is struggling more and more to speak English?

Eerlijke Kuss gaat Vuelta écht winnen: 'Ik heb een nieuwe Sepp ontdekt'

Hij moet nog finishen in Madrid, maar dat is een formaliteit. Sepp Kuss, meesterknecht uit roeping, wordt de winnaar van de Vuelta. Na de finish blikt hij grondig en eerlijk terug op de afgelopen weken.

nos.nl

I don't think you unlearn English, I just think he's struggling with his 500th interivew of the day

 

[Hugh Januss]

The answer to those assertions is no. His teammates were stronger, but the team bosses said Kuss wins. Good for him. But I would have wanted a proper showdown between the other two, throughout the entire 3 weeks, not just on a couple of stages.

This! Especially since Vingo had been gifted a minute when UAE rolled over on Tourmalet. A minute which it didn't look to me like either could gain on the other in a straight up MT finish.

 

[RedheadDane]

They certainly had to help him. Is there any doubt in your mind that Roglic or Vingegaard could have won this Vuelta? But they didn't. That's how they helped him.

Not on Angliru and Tourmalet, and certainly not in the ITT.

"Where are my teeth?"

To be fair this was the last day of all three including Sepp, and management saying "the road will decide". Well this looks like the road deciding it ain't gonna be Sepp.

Or, the road decided that it would be Sepp, because he was able to defend the jersey.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I also love the fact that not only is he the most popular rider on Jumbo, but if you listen to Gerant Thomas, he may in fact be the most popular rider in the entire peloton. It shows that sometimes nice guys do finish first. Hence, "The People's Champion"

Yup, nice guys sometimes finish first.

But due to Jumbo's mis-management of the situation, he only got to finish first after being shown up to be a lame duck champion who wouldn't have stood a chance against his teammates in a fair fight, and that puts a dampener on the whole thing.

He definitely won because he's "the people's champion", he won because Jumbo said the road would decide, until people decided they didn't like what it looked like the road was deciding, and decided that the happy ending was more important than the rest of the movie, and lobbied Jumbo to skip the whole 'race' thing and go straight to the day 21 procession.

In a few years a lot of the details will fade from memory and this'll just be one of those anomalies in the GT winners' list, like Ryder Hesjedal, Fabio Aru, Óscar Pereiro or Damiano Cunego, where people go, oh yea, he won the Vuelta that one time. But right now, with all this fresh in the memory, it seems a bit of a damp squib to watch the race peter out like this with the strongest riders in the race effectively serving as an escort group and Jumbo - just as I've criticised throughout Kuss' tenure with the team - turning the last few mountain stages into a procession where a group of around 15 rides at the speed of the third best Jumbo rider. Only this time the third best Jumbo rider wins.

 

[Extinction]

He's as American as apple pie/firearms! Actually he's one of my favorites, but I can not recall a time before when a loyal Lieutenant was ever gifted a GT win, no matter how loyal or effective. So while I'm happy for Sepp I'm not as happy for Roglic who doesn't win his record tying 4th Vuelta or Vingegaard who doesn't become only the 4th ever to do the Tour Vuelta double in the same year. Seems to me they were both asked to give up on a little bit of history, and I'm pretty sure they would be okay with it if they were beaten fair and square because every cyclist gets practice at coping with that.

Allright, I like Sepp too, but this should not get in the way of the race! And I don't care if Vingegaard or Roglic loses, so long as it's a race!

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations on winning La Vuelta 2023. Fully deserved. Although team members gave Sepp a bit of a hard time, still both made the ultimate sacrifice. All of that in my opinion needs to be respected and nothing to be taken for granted. Good luck when defending the title next year.

Chapeau!

 

[theyoungest]

Yup, nice guys sometimes finish first.

But due to Jumbo's mis-management of the situation, he only got to finish first after being shown up to be a lame duck champion who wouldn't have stood a chance against his teammates in a fair fight, and that puts a dampener on the whole thing.

He definitely won because he's "the people's champion", he won because Jumbo said the road would decide, until people decided they didn't like what it looked like the road was deciding, and decided that the happy ending was more important than the rest of the movie, and lobbied Jumbo to skip the whole 'race' thing and go straight to the day 21 procession.

In a few years a lot of the details will fade from memory and this'll just be one of those anomalies in the GT winners' list, like Ryder Hesjedal, Fabio Aru, Óscar Pereiro or Damiano Cunego, where people go, oh yea, he won the Vuelta that one time. But right now, with all this fresh in the memory, it seems a bit of a damp squib to watch the race peter out like this with the strongest riders in the race effectively serving as an escort group and Jumbo - just as I've criticised throughout Kuss' tenure with the team - turning the last few mountain stages into a procession where a group of around 15 rides at the speed of the third best Jumbo rider. Only this time the third best Jumbo rider wins.

There's a reasonable chance Kuss will do the Giro next year. Actually during the Tour he already mentioned wanting to do that, Kuss as the GC guy and Kooij as the sprinter. And I wouldn't say the chances of him winning it, given the competition that's likely to be there, are zero...

 

[Lequack]

This thread needs more posts, he has just beaten most of the best GC riders, basically just Pog was missing. Rog and Vinge tried, but ultimately failed. He is the winner!

 

[Potomac]

So the "settle it on the Angilru" is the way of it?

 

[Red Rick]

This thread needs more posts, he has just beaten most of the best GC riders, basically just Pog was missing. Rog and Vinge tried, but ultimately failed. He is the winner!

Tomorrow he'll have more major wins in the last 3 seasons than WvA

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Wow, that sticker is cringey.

 

[jmdirt]

SEPPtember!

 

[jmdirt]

No I wasn't, and no I don't. It was three years before I was even born...
But surely there have been cases where a stronger rider wasn't allowed to ride his own chance, because someone else was higher in the hierarchy.
Jumbo decided, over the course of the race, that Kuss is higher in the hierarchy than Roglic and Vingegaard.

You kids nowadays! I watched Gregg win in '86 and I wasn't even in to cycling at that point in my life, it was just a cool spectacle with a 'mercan winning on ABC Wide World of Sports.

 

[Lequack]

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Does Roglič pointing at the G mean that he's going to INEOS?

 

[HelloDolly]

So should Sepp Kuss ride GC at the Giro in 2024 ?
We see he can ride 3 GTs and is good as they go by
He could then be Dom at Tour and Vuelta ?

If Pog and Jonas and Roglic go to the Tour to win then surely Kuss is next best JV rider to go to the Giro for GC ? Should not stop Sepp doing his job at the Tour

The question is who else will lead at the Giro if Rog goes to the Tour
Would Roglic just want to repeat the Giro win in 2024 ???

Surely JV will want to repeat 3 GT wins , and what do they do if Roglic want to do the Tour in top form ?

 

[FroomeWagon]

So should Sepp Kuss ride GC at the Giro in 2024 ?
We see he can ride 3 GTs and is good as they go by
He could then be Dom at Tour and Vuelta ?

If Pog and Jonas and Roglic go to the Tour to win then surely Kuss is next best JV rider to go to the Giro for GC ? Should not stop Sepp doing his job at the Tour

The question is who else will lead at the Giro if Rog goes to the Tour
Would Roglic just want to repeat the Giro win in 2024 ???

Surely JV will want to repeat 3 GT wins , and what do they do if Roglic want to do the Tour in top form ?

Depends on who else is there for Jumbo. I personally don't think Roglic will be on the team, so it makes sense for Sepp to be the leader.

If there is a transfer to Ineos, will Ineos send a rider back to Jumbo?

 

[theyoungest]

Depends on who else is there for Jumbo. I personally don't think Roglic will be on the team, so it makes sense for Sepp to be the leader.

If there is a transfer to Ineos, will Ineos send a rider back to Jumbo?

Roglic has a contract. I know it's popular to speculate that he could go here or he could go there, but if Jumbo don't want him to go, he doesn't go. We don't even know if he wants it, his fans want it but they've done so for years now.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

So should Sepp Kuss ride GC at the Giro in 2024 ?
We see he can ride 3 GTs and is good as they go by
He could then be Dom at Tour and Vuelta ?

If Pog and Jonas and Roglic go to the Tour to win then surely Kuss is next best JV rider to go to the Giro for GC ? Should not stop Sepp doing his job at the Tour

The question is who else will lead at the Giro if Rog goes to the Tour
Would Roglic just want to repeat the Giro win in 2024 ???

Surely JV will want to repeat 3 GT wins , and what do they do if Roglic want to do the Tour in top form ?

I've stated earlier, but will repeat:
Being a dedicated GC team leader from the gun in a GT is a completely different ball game compared to being a supporting rider.
A mountain support rider as Kuss has to deliver hard in the big mountains. But when his job is done and he can get back to comfort zone, THAT's where the suffering starts for the leader.
Moreover, you have much more stressfull in itself, constantly thinking every second count, nomatter if rainy slippery cobblestones, crashes, strong cross wind stages, or hilly stages designed for things to happen all over. It's in your head.

So let's say Kuss had made it to the podium in the Giro as a GC leader for the first time.
There's IMO a quite huge risk he will be 'empty' in the supporting role in Le Tour and La Vuelta.

But just this year I've seen things of which I haven't seen in modern times....so why not, eyh?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Who's up for a group hug? I know we're all excited to see Sepp Kuss win the Vuelta, right?
Come on Libertine, time to turn that frown upside down!

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Depends on who else is there for Jumbo. I personally don't think Roglic will be on the team, so it makes sense for Sepp to be the leader.

If there is a transfer to Ineos, will Ineos send a rider back to Jumbo?

Now it has been joked about on various social media (as written, Roglic has a long-term contact from which it will be extremely expensive to wring him out), and here Arensman was mentioned as part of the exchange. But is only on a joke basis. Not happening.