Sepp Just Won’t Stop: Kuss to Race His Third Grand Tour of 2026 at the Vuelta a España

Sepp Kuss isn’t slowing down now he’s a husband, father, and owner of stage wins in all three grand tours.

Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed Tuesday that Corado’s climbing king will line up for his third grand tour of the season this weekend at the Vuelta a España.

Kuss is no stranger to the seemingly herculean task of racing all three of the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España in one season – he’s done it before.

And it worked out pretty well last time around.

In 2023, GC Kuss famously capped his sweep of the grand tours by rising above a team leadership conflict with Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard to clinch a palmarès-defining red jersey victory.

But don’t expect to see Kuss throwing haymakers at 9* favorite Tadej Pogačar in the hunt for a second maillot rojo in the next month.

With Vingegaard out for the rest of the season, Visma-Lease a Bike is hell-bent on stage wins at this Vuelta.

Kuss will hook up with the returning Wout van Aert and rising speedster Matthew Brennan as “The Killer Bees” look to bounce back from a wholly disappointing Tour de France.

There’s no space for Matteo Jorgenson on Visma’s Vuelta roster.

The Boise native suffered an off-key Tour de France due to crashes and sickness and is likely refocussing on the Canadian GPs and the Montréal road worlds.

Visma-Lease a Bike: Vuelta a España 2026

Wout van Aert
Matthew Brennan
Sepp Kuss
Jørgen Nordhagen
Ben Tulett
Steven Kruijswijk
Christophe Laporte
Bruno Armirail

Why Sepp Kuss cannot get enough of the Vuelta a España

Kuss will start this year’s Vuelta with a whopping 54 race days already in his legs after what’s been one of his best seasons yet.

The 31-year-old was key to Vingegaard winning the Giro d’Italia in May and picked up a stage-win along the way.

His breakaway victory on one of the hardest days at the corsa rosa made him the 116th rider in history to win a stage at all three grand tours.

Only an unusual loss of his trademark “Kuss cool” prevented him from backing that up with a blockbuster Tour de France stage win on the mythical Alpe d’Huez.

But after finishing 13th overall at the Tour last month, Kuss hinted to the media he wasn’t done.

The Andorra resident famously loves racing in the heat and steeps of Vuelta a España and hasn’t missed what he considers his “home” grand tour since 2018. And better still, the late-summer slot suits his slow-humming engine that gets better as the season goes on.

Kuss could become first man to complete the sweep since the last time he did it

Few riders dare to try to ride all three grand tours in a season. Even fewer are robust enough to pull it off.

The last rider to successfully race all three three-weekers was … you guessed it … Kuss in 2023.

Some say the fatigue of Kuss’ 2023 grand tour sweep blunted his legs in 2024. But he clearly loves racing in Spain too much for that to be a problem.