"I want to be a good helper for Jonas Vingegaard and Simon Yates" - Sepp Kuss signs up for Volta a Catalunya 2025 in pre-Tour de France trial run for Visma
Cycling
One of the most important riders during many of Team Visma | Lease a Bike's biggest wins over recent years, an in-form Sepp Kuss could prove to be a massive factor in Jonas Vingegaard's quest to reclaim the Maillot Jaune at the Tour de France later this summer. In something of a trial run for Visma, the trio of Kuss, Vingegaard and Simon Yates are set to team up at the 2025 Volta a Catalunya.
"It's a difficult time of year now to schedule the right amount of race days and training. It's a race that I've always enjoyed," Kuss tells Daniel Benson, announcing his upcoming racing programme ahead of the Tour de France. "Then I'll be at altitude for the first time this year, to build up for the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France."
As for his role in Catalunya, Kuss is looking to happily return to his place as a super-domestique, rather than act as a potential plan-B as had growingly become the case since his Vuelta a Espana triumph in 2023. "In Catalunya I want to be a good helper for Jonas and Simon," he explains, noting the pre-Tour de France trial it could prove for Team Visma | Lease a Bike's climbing trifecta. "The same applies to the Tour, namely to be at a high level and to be part of a good team performance."
With a return to the Vuelta a Espana also scheduled for Kuss though, that could be an opportunity for GCKuss to fly once more, although he admits he's unlikely to start with Red Jersey ambitions. "You never know what will happen with the Vuelta," he previews. "Maybe it is not the best course for me on paper, but I would like to try to win a stage and help Jonas there. There we will see what is possible for us."
Kuss also reflected briefly on what was a somewhat quiet opening to his season in Portugal at the Volta ao Algarve last month. "I would have liked to be at that level, but it is difficult to see on a ten-minute climb how big the difference is with the men who have trained a lot, or who have been at altitude a lot," he says when questioned about a four minute time loss to UAE rival Jan Christen on a summit finish. "That is of course no excuse, but I have to be realistic now."
First weekend on the cobbles ✔️ pic.twitter.com/JgyeJOp7db
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) March 3, 2025
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- Yes, I get that but it wasn’t exactly a good comparison if you ask me, circumstances and competition were very different. Also crashing whilst staying up front is pretty different from crashing and being left behind.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Pidcock was riding at a hard enough pace until the sector where Pogacar made up something like 20 seconds in something like... 20 seconds. Pidcock was quite a bit ahead, and suddenly he wasn't. At that point, clearly he would get caught, so might as well get caught sooner and work together. That's just good cycling. (I think the point is, plenty of people win even after they've come down in a crash - Van der Poel crashed at the worlds and won, anyway, for example).RidesHills08-04-2025
- Great sprint, Ineos set him up at exactly the right time, they protected the corners through the turns, and he did the job he was supposed to do. Nice to see him win again.RidesHills08-04-2025
- When Vingo, Rogla, and Wout were all at the height of their powers, a sight to behold.mobk08-04-2025
- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Exactly, that easily makes for a minute at the front. You don’t see Pog cracking often either (less often than MVDP even) but when he does it’s lights out and over too. This is completely normal and to be expected, at the level of competitiveness all these guys are they only crack once they’ve pushed beyond their manageable limit and there’s no coming back from that. When your rival forces you into the red to keep or catch up, it’s over, in that respect, well done to WVA who seems to be world champion in staying just outside the red for as long as he can.Mistermaumau08-04-2025