For the first time since his stellar 2023 season, Durango’s Sepp Kuss is back in the Giro d’Italia in a familiar role for Team Visma-Lease a Bike.
Cycling’s first Grand Tour of 2026 is underway with the often unpredictable Giro d’Italia throughout all of Italy, which started on May 8 and will finish after 21 stages on May 31.
Once again, Kuss is riding in support of Visma-Lease a Bike team leader Jonas Vingegaard, who is the favorite to win the Giro with rival and cycling’s top rider, Tadej Pogačar, not racing in the Giro as he focuses on winning his fifth Tour de France in July. Vingegaard is looking to become the eighth rider to win all three Grand Tours.
“The Giro d’Italia is often unpredictable, so we can’t underestimate anything or anyone,” Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Marc Reef said in a press release before the start. Jonas starts as the top favorite, and overall victory is absolutely our goal … He already showed that earlier this season with his victories in Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya. We’ve been specifically preparing for the Giro d’Italia since last winter. We’re ready.”
Kuss will be relied upon for his climbing prowess to guide and support Vingegaard through the mountain stages. However, the Giro is the Grand Tour that Kuss is least experienced in, with starts in 2019 and 2023. Since Kuss doesn’t have a lot of experience with the Giro, he doesn’t feel the same pressure as he does with the Tour de France.
As of Friday, the first seven stages of the Giro have been completed. The stages have been mostly flat with a few decent climbs.
The first big mountainous stage was on Friday with the 245-kilometer Stage 7 from Formia to Blockhaus. Before the Giro even began, Stage 7 was marked as one where Kuss could really help propel Vingegaard to the top of the GC. Kuss did.
Before Stage 7, Vingegaard was 15th in the GC, six minutes and 22 seconds behind Afonso Eulálio in first. However, he climbed to victory on Friday in Stage 7 and jumped all the way to second in the GC, 3:17 behind Eulálio. Kuss is up to 22nd in the GC after finishing 19th in Stage 7, 2:57 behind Vingegaard. Kuss’ previous best stage finish in the Giro this year was 40th in Stage 5.
Although Kuss is riding for the team and Vingegaard, it isn’t lost on him that the Giro is the only Grand Tour that he doesn’t have a stage victory in.
“I think if the opportunity comes, I’d like to go for it,” Kuss said in an article in Cyclingnews. “But I think all my other wins in the stage races and Grand Tours have come just by taking the opportunity as they come, without overly looking for it. So we’ll go with that approach.”