"We have to be honest with each other. Who feels best and who can finish?” - Sepp Kuss maintains that as long as a Jumbo-Visma rider wins La Vuelta he'll be happy

Jumbo-Visma have reached the second rest day at the 2023 Vuelta a Espana in a very dominant position completing the podium with their three premier riders. Sepp Kuss is the man in the Red Jersey but he maintains that making sure of a Jumbo-Visma winner is the most important thing.

“I have had wonderful and new experiences over the past week. I'm definitely looking forward to next week, even if I hadn't ridden in the leader's jersey," says the American, who so often has been a super domestique at the service of Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard in a rest day interview with Sporza. “We have not stated a pecking order, but we do say that we want to maintain this situation. But I also know: in this sport you don't hand out gifts. They also want to win.”

After having given so much to Roglic and Vingegaard in recent years and even this year helping the Slovenian to Giro d'Italia success and the Dane to a Tour de France triumph, is Kuss going to pull in a favour from both in the final week? “The other men are just happy for me and believe in me. We know each other well and we cannot lose sight of the bigger picture: we want to win this Vuelta with one of us, so we have to be honest with each other. Who feels best and who can finish?” Kuss answers. 

“If I am the only leader, it gives me... I won't call it stress, but I don't need a complete team to support me. Or that I have to repay the team's work. I prefer to be in the shade. In this team I can do my thing from the shade," the American concludes. “I like the cols that follow in Asturias and Cantabria. Those steep bumps are my type of climbs and I still feel very good. I also had super good legs and good memories with Primoz at the Angliru in 2020. Stage eighteen is tricky. The twentieth stage is almost a classic. Such a day is difficult to control and can be very unpredictable. However, the legs will speak.”