Sepp Kuss predicts great year for Visma: Vingegaard succeeds in his Giro-Tour quest & Van Aert with Brennan dominate spring
Cycling
Visma | Lease a Bike have already won 8 Grand Tours during this decade, cementing themselves as the one of the two major GC forces of the current cycling world (the other being Tadej Pogacar with 5). However their record at the Monuments leaves something to be desired as the Slovenian alone has won 10 while Visma as a collective have celebrated only twice, and both triumphs date all the way back to 2020. But Sepp Kuss believes 2026 to be the year of change.
In 2020, Wout Van Aert won the Milano-Sanremo before Primoz Roglic took one of the most viral victories ever at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Since then, it was mainly the Belgian who carried Visma's flag in Monuments, and he did so formidably with further 6 podium finishes (2x Sanremo and Roubaix, 1x Liege and Flanders), but ultimately always fell short to either Mathieu van der Poel or Tadej Pogacar.
This year, Van Aert should again return to chase that elusive cobbled Monument triumph, but he won't be alone. Visma seem to have found a potential successor to the 31-year-old in a decade younger Matthew Brennan who leapfrogged into the position of one of the Dutch team's main stars already in his debut season when he won a total of 14 races.
Kuss himself is not a big fan of racing the one-day races as he had only done three throughout his career. But speaking to Marca ahead of the season, he dared to guess who could take him the most wanted tropheys in 2026.
Five big victories for Visma
According to the American, Van Aert will be quick to recover from his ankle injury and would return to win both Milano-Sanremo and Tour of Flanders. Also for the third Monument of the season, Kuss expects the yellow-black bees to celebrate, this time through the 20-year-old Brennan.
The first non-Visma winner should then be Kuss' now former teammate Cian Uijtdebroeks who would take an upset victory at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, ending the two-year reign of Tadej Pogacar.
Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan are to dominate the spring according to Kuss
Moving onto the Grand Tours, Pogacar would once again walk away empty-handed, as Kuss predicts Jonas Vingegaard to successfully complete the Giro-Tour double. Vuelta should then go to Pogacar's teammate Joao Almeida according to the 2023 winner of the Spanish Grand Tour.
Finally, Pogacar will return to his winning ways at the end of the season with successful three-peat at the World Championships in Montreal and close off the year with his 6th Lombardia triumph in a row.
Do you agree with Kuss, or think the distribution of prizes in 2026 will be different? Let us know in the comment section!
Read also
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 2visitors 2
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- You're right about Kieran Wood, but he keeps reminding us he's the big Deputy Editor-in-Chief !?!? He says his focus is on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. Kieran also says he places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available. So... he's gotta be right in saying Pogi is a four time TDF winner!?!? ... or maybe not!?!? LOL !!!PogiSloFans03-11-2026
- A busy boy!Lozza03-11-2026
- I hope 2027 is his year.mij03-11-2026
- why does he have to? many GT riders from Froome to Contador to Indurain didn't do them.mij03-11-2026
- I think Jonas would have lost the TDF by 4+ minutes (at the least) and might not have even been in the top 3. Too much talent in the younger riders to say anyone not named Pogačar would have been top 3md197503-11-2026
- this is just stupid. you already have 23%, gravel is over the topabstractengineer03-11-2026
- There was once a time when Lance was supremely popular and he used his artificial "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life" persona to lead his mob in going after Greg. There was no one Lance did not abuse in protecting his phony hero image. Lance promoted himself as a divine megastar and he let down millions of cancer victims and gullible devotees who clung far too long to the charade. Lance is the epitome of a corrupt person and because of his power, many around him, including business enterprises, succumbed to the evil. All who got in Armstrong's way were mercilessly attacked by him and his minions. This remarkably continues today with a new generation. LeMond was a number one enemy and paid a huge price. Who do you think slandered who?Yepperoni03-11-2026
- You despise him because he calls out the truth....OK clown !frieders303-11-2026
- JV is really slighting himself with not doing the 1 dayers.. 🤷
leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment