"I don't know who can beat Sepp Kuss outside of the top four riders in the world" - Chris Horner implores Vuelta winner to target the Giro d'Italia in 2024

In 2024, Jumbo-Visma's Sepp Kuss will have a slightly different role in the peloton. Now a Grand Tour winner, no longer will he be seen as simply a super-domestique to the likes of Jonas Vingegaard. In the opinion of Kuss's fellow American Vuelta a Espana winner, Chris Horner, the Giro d'Italia and the Maglia Rosa should be his aim.

“Sepp could go for the Giro next year, and why not? It’s the perfect recipe with the four big GC favourites doing the Tour de France, and I don’t see any of them doing the Giro-Tour double,” Horner explains in conversation with GCN. “That leaves the door open for Kuss, and he’s just going to have to battle against a couple of favourites like Jai Hindley, Cian Uijtdebroeks and possibly Geraint Thomas. Who else could beat Kuss if he went there at 100 per cent of form? If I’m looking at Jumbo-Visma, who else am I bringing to win the Giro?"

Although Kuss has previously revealed his intention to resume his domestique role at next year's Tour de France in the aid of Jonas Vingegaard, as he's shown this year, multiple Grand Tours aren't a problem for him.

"I don't know who can beat Sepp outside of the top four riders in the world. He’d have to drop Geraint Thomas somewhere, but if I was Ineos I’d be sending Thomas to the Giro because they’re not going to win the Tour unless someone on that team gets better. Their stretch of winning is over, even if Egan Bernal comes back to his best," Horner continues.

“If I was Sepp, I’d do the Giro. If I was his team I’d hold him back for the Tour because you want to win that race but if I was Sepp, I’d be pushing for that Giro,” Horner says. “At his age, he almost has to go for leadership again because of his Vuelta win. He’s on the best team in the world and they seem to be able to make riders step up a level. They don’t buy great riders, they make great riders. Kuss wasn’t a Grand Tour winner, now he is. No one had heard of Roglic, and now he’s won four Grand Tours. Same with Vingegaard. Who was he or Tobias Foss?”

“Absolutely I think Kuss going to the Giro weakens Jumbo for the Tour de France but we all thought that last year and he still did both, and the team won both. Jumbo can be cocky with their energy, and they seem to think that they have an unlimited source of energy, and so far it’s worked. They just throw it out there like we’ve never seen. Just go back two years to the Tour when Wout van Aert is wearing the yellow jersey and he’s going up the road with [Jakob] Fuglsang and [Quinn] Simmons. It was insane the amount of energy he was using for a team looking to win the race.”