Sepp Kuss on the Vuelta dilemma: "A stage win is worth more than a top 10 finish."

In a certain sense, it seems like the script has already been seen. When Sepp Kuss takes to the start of the Monaco time trial on Saturday, at the start of the Vuelta a España , the Visma-Lease a Bike rider will be tackling his third Grand Tour of the season, just as he did in 2023.

The question on everyone's mind is: will Kuss aim for the overall title again , as he successfully did two years ago, or will the strategy be different this time?

After two thirteenth-place finishes in the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France this season, as well as a stage win at the Corsa Rosa, the American always reiterates the same concept when it comes to the Vuelta: the key to successfully tackling a third Grand Tour is motivation. And for fantasy cycling, this is already a valuable first clue: a motivated Kuss is a dangerous Kuss, wherever he is in the standings.

Rather than immediately setting a general classification objective, as he explained at the team presentation in Munich on Thursday evening, Kuss prefers to evaluate the situation at the end of a very eventful first week from an altimetric point of view, and then decide what to do next.

"We'll see after the first week. For me the main thing is to win a stage, but we'll get into the race and then evaluate how it's going," Kuss told Cyclingnews .

"There are so many mountain stages, so many possible breakaway days: you never know what can happen. So in the first week we'll take it day by day. The most important thing is the feeling, and I feel good and mentally charged, and that's the key aspect."

Rather than categorically rule out a bid for the overall, Kuss seems to want to let the race itself decide. As he put it: "You never know."

For those who play fantasy cycling, this open attitude makes Kuss an interesting wildcard: if his legs are working and the team is confident, a leap towards a prestigious place in the general classification is by no means out of the question, especially considering what happened in 2023.

Kuss, however, clarifies his priorities: aiming for a top 10 overall finish is less important to him right now than chasing a stage win. "A stage would make this a great Vuelta. A top 10 finish isn't that important to me," he added in another interview with a small group of journalists. "But after the first half of the race, we'll see how we're doing as a team, where we stand in the standings, and maybe we'll evaluate other options based on that."

This approach of not looking too far ahead is exactly the strategy that paid off handsomely at the 2023 Vuelta, when Kuss joined a breakaway to Javalambre in the first week and suddenly found himself very close to the overall lead after winning the stage.

At the same time, considering how many stage win options Visma-Lease a Bike has with riders like Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan—to name just two of his most well-known teammates—three years later, by not immediately revealing his cards, Kuss leaves many different scenarios open, both for himself and the team. This is something to keep an eye on for those making lineup decisions: Visma appears to have more options than it seems at first glance.

"I feel good. The truth is, I always arrive at the Vuelta full of motivation, and that's very important," he said. "You have to be mentally ready, because it will be a very tough Vuelta right from the start. We have a lot of options for stage finishes, so we'll see how the riders are doing. We have a very balanced team."

Chasing stages with Van Aert and Brennan

Speaking about his two most prominent teammates, who will be chasing stage wins, the American said that Van Aert, recent winner of the Tour of Denmark, "is in great shape. It will be a great battle with Pedersen and Pogačar if he wants the polka-dot jersey.

But he's particularly motivated after what happened last time at the Vuelta" – a reference to the 2024 edition, when a previously dominant Van Aert crashed and suffered a serious injury while leading both the points and mountains classifications. For fantasy cycling, a Van Aert eager for revenge after that disappointment is certainly a name to keep a close eye on.

As for Brennan , in his first Grand Tour, Kuss says he is particularly impressed by the young British rider's ability to take on almost everything professional cycling has thrown at him without losing his cool.

"He's always super calm," Kuss told Cyclingnews. "It's different because he's such a strong rider; it's not the same as a guy who doesn't know his own abilities and takes on a Grand Tour.

"It's different even for a sprinter, because this year it's such a tough race that he has to overcome the mountain stages. That will be the main aspect for him. But I see he's super calm and confident. He knows what he can do in these fast finishes. He's a really strong rider."

Most of the few sprinters in the Vuelta estimate there will be a maximum of five or six sprint finishes, compared to the eight possible sprint stages at the Tour. But Kuss argues that the rougher terrain—which Brennan has already demonstrated he can handle well before a proper sprint finish, both at the Tour de Pologne and the Volta a Catalunya—will benefit the 21-year-old. A not-to-be-neglected detail for the Fantaycling: the "selective" sprints at the Vuelta could reward riders like Brennan , who are capable of holding out on the climbs before the final sprint.

"The climbs take some of the nerves out of the sprint stage. If you only have flat stages where everyone is bursting with energy, then the sprints can be more chaotic," Kuss emphasizes. "We don't even have the trains for those kinds of sprints in our team, so I think the Vuelta-style sprints will be good for him."

As for favorable stages for Sepp Kuss himself, the American points to stage four in Andorra—where he won a mountain stage at the 2021 Tour—as a possible objective, given that he'll be riding on home roads he knows very well. But further down the route, there are other interesting options that could further benefit him.

"The stage in Andorra would be very nice, but I'm not sure it's ideal, although it's always nice to race there," he said. "But the stages in the third week with those very long climbs will be very good, and stage 9 in Alicante"—to the first-category Alto de Aitana, not ridden since 2016—"is equally good."

By then, Kuss will have a much clearer idea of ​​a possible attack on the Vuelta's overall title and his options. But whatever happens on that front, for a pure climber like Kuss, the opportunities to shine in the mountains—and there are plenty of them in this edition of the Vuelta—are always too good to miss. For those who play fantasy cycling, the advice is clear: keep an eye on Kuss, especially in the third week, when his true intentions could finally emerge.

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency