Sepp Kuss Reminds Everyone Class Is Permanent with Sensational Giro d’Italia Victory

Few were expecting Sepp Kuss to win a stage at this Giro d’Italia – maybe not even Kuss himself.

But that didn’t stop the “Eagle of Durango” from ending his victory drought in sensational fashion Friday in a brutal mountain tappone through the high Dolomites.

That’s not to say it was easy for this purest of climbers.

Kuss explained after stage 19 he battled internal pressure and competitive doubts as he rode into the history books and became only the second U.S. rider after Tyler Farrar to win stages at the Giro, Tour, and Vuelta.

“It means so much. I knew that a Giro win was the last missing piece,” Kuss told Cycling Pro Net. “It gave me a bit of pressure in a way, I knew how bad I wanted it, and at the same time, I knew how hard it was.

“Sometimes the harder you look for something, the harder it is to achieve it and the more mistakes you make on the way,” Kuss said after his montaintop win in Alleghe.

He needn’t have worried.

His ride in the breakaway on the hardest stage of this Giro d’Italia could have been from a textbook.

“It’s really emotional. It’s not that I ever had doubts in myself, it’s just that I get better every year, but so does everybody else,” Kuss said Friday. “Sometimes, from the outside it’s hard to see that.

“Everybody gets better and everybody gets to a new level, but it gets harder and harder to win in this sport.”

Again, Kuss shouldn’t have been concerned.

His attack to reel in Giulio Ciccone on the final summit of a devastating 5,000m+ day in the Dolomites reinforced what we already know. Kuss is Climbing King.

Kuss blasts back into the eyeline

This was a result that felt a long time coming.

Kuss hadn’t taken the winner’s photo since summer 2024 – and even then, it was at the low-key Vuelta a Burgos.

Before that, the Colorado star hadn’t won a race since his against-all-odds GC victory at the Vuelta a España 2023.

The 31-year-old acknowledged the struggle to keep up in a peloton that’s accelerating fast.

“This [the grand tour sweep] was always something I dreamt of,” Kuss said after the stage. “But every year it gets harder and harder to win.

“I keep progressing and getting better, but so does everyone else.”

That Kuss repeated those concerns in two post-stage interviews Friday is perhaps telling.

The rider once labeled “USA’s next grand tour winner” – a label he was never comfortable with – has been quiet.

Kuss didn’t explode in the way some expected after he overcame team tensions to top a Visma 1-2-3 at the 2023 Vuelta.

He was beat back by fatigue in 2024, and struggled to hold his best level in 2025.

Meanwhile, Matteo Jorgenson replaced his teammate as the darling of U.S. cycling.

Breakout Italian Davide Piganzoli even usurped Kuss as Vingegaard’s last man in Visma’s Giro d’Italia mountain train.

‘These are the days I live for’

But Kuss just reminded everyone – and himself – that form is temporary. Class is permanent.

The eternal domestique was given the green light by maglia rosa teammate Vingegaard to roam on Friday, and he didn’t miss his chance.

“Today, when I knew I would have the opportunity to go for it, I just had this super focus, a super day,” Kuss said.

“I just enjoyed the day. These are the days I live for, big climbs, mythical climbs, queen stages,” he continued. “These most challenging days are what I love about cycling.”

Kuss has made winning hard grand tour stages his thing. His victories at the 2019 and 2023 Vuelta a España and 2021 Tour de France were all born from uphill suffering.

Vingegaard hails Visma’s grand tour kingmaker

Kuss may have dropped a spot in Visma’s mountain train at this Giro d’Italia, but the 31-year-old remains one of the peloton’s greatest climbing domestiques.

He pulled Primož Roglič to victory three times at the Vuelta a España and once at the Giro d’Italia. He helped Vingegaard win his two Tour de France titles. He was MVP again when Vingegaard won last year’s Vuelta.

As Visma-Lease a Bike team boss Richard Plugge once said: “Sepp is the mailman – he always delivers.”

Kuss has been instrumental in all of the Killer Bees’ grand tour wins, except for Simon Yates’s pink jersey coup exactly 12 months ago.

And of course, Kuss will be at Vingegaard’s side again this summer at the Tour de France.

Vingegaard hailed the best mountain helper in the game after the stage on Friday.

“I am so incredibly happy for Sepp to win a stage, and it feels special for me as well,” Vingegaard told Cycling Pro Net.

“He has always been there for me, in all the grand tour victories, never asking for something for himself. Even today I had to say ‘you can go for your chance today.’ He deserves it so much.”

Vingegaard seemed as happy for Kuss in his post-race interview Friday as all of us felt on the couch.

When this fan-favorite wins, everybody wins.

“Sepp just told me that he thought this stage win would never happen, but now it has, I think that in a way it also completes his career,” Vingegaard said. “It is a special day for our entire team.”