"Jonas Vingegaard is the main guy, but you never know what can happen" - Sepp Kuss predicts Visma could surprise Tour de France with co-leader

Jonas Vingegaard starts the 2025 Tour de France as the rider most likely to threaten Tadej Pogacar's dominance. Whilst the Dane is the undisputed leader of Team Visma | Lease a Bike however, could a multiple leader strategy spring a surprise in the fight for the Maillot Jaune?

One man who knows better than most how a super domestique can be thrust into a general classification leadership role, is Sepp Kuss, who won the 2023 Vuelta a Espana, despite starting the Spanish Grand Tour in a support role for teammates Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic. Speaking ahead of the upcoming Tour de France, the American admitted a similar strategy could be used by Visma this month.

"We all know that Jonas is the main guy, so the better we are in the mountains, it doesn't hurt," explains the 30-year-old in conversation with Cycling News. "But yeah, you never know what can happen in the Tour. Both of them could go well [Vingegaard and Simon Yates] as well as Matteo Jorgenson with a bit of leadership."

For Kuss, the aforementioned Yates, who has already shown his Grand Tour capabilities this year by winning the Giro d'Italia, could be the wildcard Visma need to threaten Pogacar. "For Simon personally, I'm sure he has a lot of weight off his shoulders, having that big win," explains Kuss. "Simon can go to the Tour without expectation and for Jonas I think it's really good knowing how strong he was there in the Giro."

Matteo Jorgenson also sees the Brit as a potentially decisive factor for the team at the 2025 Tour de France. "[Simon's win] just provides us with another confirmation that what we're doing is correct, and that all the systems we have in place are working well," Jorgenson comments. "To see Simon make the step, I mean he's never changed teams in his career I think, so to come here and make the step to winning the Giro tells me a lot about the team and gives me confidence that what I'm doing every day and the grind is working at least for most guys. It was cool to see, and gave me passion again for racing."

As for himself, Jorgenson is looking to improve on a 2024 performance that saw the American finish 8th overall. "Not so much [change since last year] just trying to improve for myself, especially in climbing, so I can get my level higher and be closer to these guys and hopefully have a role to play," he assessed of himself ahead of the Tour. "I've done everything I can to show up here as skinny and as fit as I can, both of those things went super well, I've had almost no issues."