Sepp Kuss: ‘Winners have cold blood, and I don’t have that’

Just 24 hours after he dropped away from his teammates on the Angliru, Sepp Kuss and Jumbo-Visma looked like a different team on stage 18 of the Vuelta a España. With the stage win secured by Remco Evenepoel up the road, the Dutch squad rode in unfaltering support for Kuss, extending his lead in the red jersey to 17 seconds over teammate Jonas Vingegaard.

With only one day of climbing remaining, today’s result makes it likely that Kuss will keep red until Madrid, and win this Vuelta. This wasn’t certain on Thursday morning, with his teammates – who fill the other two podium spots – looking strong, and clearly not afraid to distance their leader on the climb.

Read more: Hierarchies become clear as Jumbo-Visma drop Sepp Kuss on the Angliru

On stage 18 though, things were different. Jumbo-Visma looked like a team united and Kuss’ lead looks secure. But why was this not already the case? According to the American, the reasoning may lie less with his teammates or team, and more with his own ambitions.

“I’m not a winner in the sense that I need to win,” Kuss said, days away from becoming the winner of one of the biggest races in the world. “I think the majority of these days have cold blood in order to win, and I don’t have that.”

A simple answer, but perhaps one that is key to understanding why Kuss has found himself in the position he has. Winners of the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and countless other races, it’s clear that Vingegaard and Roglič have that cold blood, as Kuss implies. The American, used to sacrificing himself for others, just doesn’t have that, and indeed is one of the best domestiques because he doesn’t have that.

“I wouldn’t say I have to stand up for myself when things go wrong or whatever, it’s just that I’m not the person that’s the loudest in the room or wants things a certain way,” he continued. “I try and look at things from a lot of different perspectives and sometimes I put myself in a situation that I don’t need to put myself in

“I’m also realising that in sports you need a bit of the killer instinct, for better or for worse.”

On the topic of leadership and what happened on stage 17 – where Vingegaard and Roglič showed that they can race with cold blood when they need to – Kuss offered a glimpse of insight into how it felt from his perspective.

“I think the Angliru stage was a bit of a strange stage to watch, but for me…” he trailed off, speaking in his second language and choosing his words carefully. “I don’t want to get into controversies.”

Despite the events of just one day ago, it seems Kuss was not worried about a repeat of that on the slopes of the Cruz de Linares, with Jumbo-Visma’s game plan firmly changed for stage 18.

“I don’t know if relief is the right word, because I trusted in the guys to help me,” he said. “There was no doubting in my mind that they would do that. So for me the only relief was being able to follow through.”

If Kuss wins in Madrid, will winning the Vuelta make you a winner, and will that now instil the killer instinct in Kuss? According to him, perhaps not, and he struggles to give an answer on whether he will now be a race leader at Jumbo-Visma, or if domestique duty is where he belongs.

“It’s hard to say. I think now more than ever I’ve realised how hard it is to win something, to want to win something. That’s not for everyone, so I still have to decide what that means for me.”