Sepp Kuss: "The Tour de France was crazy but beautiful."

On the Champs-Élysées , after finishing his sixth Tour de France and giving journalists a few minutes, Sepp Kuss couldn't stop thinking about the previous afternoon. Time at the Tour seems to stretch infinitely, but just twenty-four hours had passed since he'd spectacularly missed a stage victory on Alpe d'Huez, dropping out of the race with two crashes in the final ten kilometers while leading.

"The more I think about it, the more regrets I have," the climber from Durango admitted. Yet, those regrets remain largely contained. Just as he had reacted with maturity and clarity at the summit of Alpe d'Huez, refusing to give in to disappointment, Kuss arrived in Paris with his sense of perspective intact and crystal clear.

"The beautiful moments in cycling, the victories, are fleeting. They pass quickly. What stays with me most is the process, the preparation for the big moments, the emotions experienced during the stage, the positive feelings. I carry those with me more than any victory or near-victory."

In this sense, Kuss enjoyed one of his most successful Tours ever, despite not being part of the overall winner's team and despite not having won any stages himself. A Tour where he played a quiet but incisive role.

"For me, this was one of the most enjoyable Tours. Sometimes I say, 'I don't like the Tour de France,' because it's ruthless, incredibly fast, the pressure is enormous, and if you're down even a few percentage points, it's really hard to enjoy it. This year, however, I felt really good, solid, and I appreciated it even more."

Kuss confirmed the general assessment: this edition was among the toughest he's ever competed in. The stifling heat of the first week combined with a frenetic race pace helped shatter new speed records in this increasingly fast and ruthless modern cycling style.

"It was one of the toughest for me," said the 31-year-old. "The course itself might not have been the hardest, but the way we rode each stage made it incredibly tough. The level in the peloton is so high now that everyone wants to win a stage, and so every day becomes incredibly fast. It's always hard to keep up with the speed everyone is going, but I'm having so much fun and I think that helps me give my best."

Kuss believes the Giro d'Italia put him in ideal physical condition to tackle the Tour. Paradoxically, he felt better at the Tour than at the Giro, even though the latter had been, on paper, a greater success: he had led Jonas Vingegaard to the overall victory and then taken a solo stage in the Queen's Tour. "Sometimes I need a great run in my legs to feel at my best," he explained.

With two Grand Tours already under his belt this season, could Kuss add a third? The Vuelta a España kicks off on August 22nd, and with Visma | Lease a Bike without a designated leader, a general classification Kuss could even return.

"I hope so," he answered directly when asked about the Vuelta. "We'll see how the body recovers after this Tour, but why not?"

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency