Sepp Kuss: 2026 team, palmarès and profile

Team (2026): Team Visma | Lease a Bike
Nationality: USA
Born: 13 September 1994, Durango, Colorado, USA
Profile: Grand Tour climber and domestique
Pro since: 2016
Previous teams: LiVe Well p/b Bountiful Bicycle (amateur) (2015), Gateway Harley Davidson–Trek Team (amateur) (2016), Rally Cycling (2016–2017)

Facts checked on 20 October 2026. Every fact has a source, listed at the bottom of this page.

2026 season

29 March 2026Volta a Catalunya22nd overall Source
29 May 2026Giro d'Italia, stage 191st Source
31 May 2026Giro d'Italia13th overall Source
21 June 2026Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica3rd Source
4 July 2026Tour de France, stage 1 (team time trial)1st (team result) Source
25 July 2026Tour de France, stage 203rd; combativity award Source
26 July 2026Tour de France13th overall Source
13 September 2026Vuelta a España5th overall Source

Palmarès

2018Tour of Utah1st overall, mountains classification and 3 stage wins Source
2019Vuelta a España1st stage 15 Source
2020Critérium du Dauphiné1st stage 5 Source
2021Tour de France1st stage 15 Source
2023Vuelta a España1st overall; 1st stage 6 Source
2024Vuelta a Burgos1st overall; 1st stage 3 Source
2025Vuelta a España7th overall Source
2026Giro d'Italia1st stage 19 Source
2026Tour de France1st stage 1 (team time trial, with team); combativity award on stage 20 Source

Biography

Sepp Kuss was born on 13 September 1994 in Durango, Colorado. He started in mountain biking and won three collegiate national titles while studying at the University of Colorado Boulder. He moved to road racing in 2016, won a stage at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, and signed for Rally Cycling later that year. After finishing second overall at the 2017 Tour of Alberta he signed for LottoNL–Jumbo, the team now called Team Visma | Lease a Bike, from 2018.

He made an immediate mark in August 2018 by winning the Tour of Utah, with three stage wins and the mountains jersey, and then rode his first Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España. Over the following years he became known as a ‘super-domestique’, a climber who supports team leaders in the mountains, helping Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard to a combined six Grand Tour wins. He also took his own stage wins at the Vuelta in 2019, the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2020 and the Tour de France in 2021, where he won stage 15 in Andorra, the country where he lives.

His biggest year was 2023. After riding the Giro for Roglič and the Tour for Vingegaard, he started the Vuelta, won stage 6, took the red jersey two days later and kept it to the finish. He became the first American to win a Grand Tour since Chris Horner in 2013, and the first rider since Gastone Nencini in 1957 to ride all three Grand Tours in a season and win one. In 2024 he won the Vuelta a Burgos. From 2025 he went back to a mainly supporting role, and he was seventh at that year’s Vuelta.

In 2026 he rode the Giro d’Italia for Vingegaard and won stage 19, the queen stage, on 29 May after passing Giulio Ciccone on the final climb. That gave him a stage win in all three Grand Tours. He finished the Giro 13th overall. At the Tour de France the team won the opening team time trial in Barcelona, and on stage 20 to Alpe d’Huez he crashed twice while leading the break, finished third and was given the combativity award. He ended the Tour 13th and the Vuelta fifth overall. His contract with the team runs to 2027.