{"id":1969559,"date":"2026-06-03T08:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969559"},"modified":"2026-06-03T08:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:12:11","slug":"sepp-kuss-made-history-at-the-giro-ditalia-derek-gee-west-is-still-haunted-by-week-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969559","title":{"rendered":"Sepp Kuss Made History at the Giro d’Italia. Derek Gee-West Is Still Haunted by Week One."},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/gee-kuss-giro-2026.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Published June 3, 2026 02:12AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sepp Kuss made U.S. cycling history at the 2026 Giro d\u2019Italia. Derek Gee-West came within touching distance of a grand tour podium.<\/p>\n

And North American cycling, with just four Americans and two Canadians in the corsa rosa<\/em>, made an outsized impact on one of the sport\u2019s biggest races.<\/p>\n

Kuss lived up to his nickname \u2014 The Mailman always delivers \u2014 with an emotional stage win to complete the grand tour treble and create his own one-person club in American cycling history (see below<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Gee-West confirmed he\u2019s a grand tour podium contender and could go even better if he can figure out what goes wrong in week one.<\/p>\n

And the rest of the contingent \u2014 Larry Warbasse, Will Barta, Magnus Sheffield and Nickolas Zukowsky \u2014 provided key support that lifted their respective squads and lays the groundwork for bigger things to come.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the North Americans fared at the 2026 Giro d\u2019Italia.<\/p>\n

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Kuss delivers again and secures legacy<\/h2>\n
\"Sepp
Kuss suffered to win the Giro stage. <\/span> (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the Colorado climber crossed the line first atop Piani di Pezz\u00e8 on stage 19, he did more than win a mountain stage.<\/p>\n

He became only the 116th rider in cycling history to win a stage in all three grand tours, and only the second U.S. rider to officially do it, joining Tyler Farrar.<\/p>\n

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And if you add his 2023 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a victory, he is the only U.S. male rider to win stages in all three grand tours and win a grand tour GC.<\/p>\n

Call it Club Kuss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still can\u2019t believe I won this stage,\u201d Kuss said. \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve dreamed about for a long time, but I also knew it would be difficult to achieve. Every year the level gets higher, so I knew I wouldn\u2019t have many chances left to win a stage in the Giro. Today, everything finally came together. This is special.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years he\u2019s been cycling\u2019s ultimate super-domestique, the mountain lieutenant who could climb with the very best before emptying himself for teammates.<\/p>\n

And he did it again across this Giro, helping to tow Jonas Vingegaard to five stage victories and the pink jersey.<\/p>\n

When Kuss is on the start line, Visma usually leaves with a trophy.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSepp Kuss always sacrifices himself for everybody else and never asks anything back,\u201d Vingegaard said. \u201cTo give him something back is a real pleasure. He has been there in all my grand tour wins. I\u2019m so happy he got his chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuss has now been part of nine of Visma-Lease a Bike\u2019s 10 modern grand tour victories. And he was the constant to the team\u2019s historic sweep of all three grand tours in 2023, helping Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d win the Giro, Vingegaard the Tour, before himself winning the Vuelta.<\/p>\n

Now, at 31, he continues adding to a legacy that the statistics can only begin to capture.<\/p>\n

The Coloradan won\u2019t have long to celebrate.<\/p>\n

Next month, Kuss will line up at the 2026 Tour de France alongside\u00a0 Vingegaard as Visma-Lease a Bike attempts to wrest the yellow jersey away from Tadej Poga\u010dar and UAE Emirates-XRG.<\/p>\n

Kuss remains one of the few riders in the peloton capable of influencing the outcome of cycling\u2019s biggest race simply by doing his job.<\/p>\n

He finished 13th overall at the Giro. The number tells you almost nothing about his value.<\/p>\n

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Gee-West and his first-week problem<\/h2>\n
\"Derek
Gee-West emptied the tank in the final week. <\/span> (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s one thing standing between Derek Gee-West and a grand tour podium: the first week.<\/p>\n

Or, more precisely, the Big Start \u2014 the grande partenza<\/em> at the Giro d\u2019Italia.<\/p>\n

The affable Canadian proved yet again that he can hang with the best climbers in the peloton deep into a third week, when cycling\u2019s cream rises to the top.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the getting there that\u2019s been the hard part.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo be honest, in the last two Giros, the first week has basically been about damage control,\u201d Gee-West said. \u201cThen things start to come around. Luckily, grand tours are built in a way where the third week can make the biggest difference, and that\u2019s when my legs seem to come good. I\u2019d love for them to come good in week one at some point, but better late than never.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gee-West finished fifth overall, 2:34 behind Felix Gall in second, 1:31 behind Jai Hindley in third, and 54 seconds behind Thymen Arensman in fourth. Winner Jonas Vingegaard was five minutes off the front.<\/p>\n

In 2025, he lost time in Albania in the opening stages. And it happened again this year in Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

He was caught up in the massive pileup in stage 2. Luckily, he could continue in the race, but he lost 1:01 on the day.<\/p>\n

That time difference alone would have made him fourth in Rome instead of fifth, and it might have even cost him the podium simply for early setbacks and a loss of momentum that put him on the back foot from the start.<\/p>\n

At 28, Gee-West is already the best Canadian grand tour stage racer since Ryder Hesjedal won the Giro in 2012.<\/p>\n

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Gee-West left Italy with mixed emotions and a fifth-place finish, one position lower than his fourth-place result a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my level is higher,\u201d Gee-West said. \u201cIt was such a hard race, and I think it\u2019s really good for my confidence moving forward. Hopefully I can come back even stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gee-West will take a break and look to the back half of the 2026 calendar. The Tour de France is not in the cards and he won\u2019t want to miss the Canadian road cycling world championships in Montr\u00e9al in June.<\/p>\n

His fifth helped take the edge off a somewhat disappointing Giro for Lidl-Trek, which didn\u2019t manage to win a stage until the final sprint into Rome.<\/p>\n

For Gee-West, this Giro showed the brutal mountains of northern Italy aren\u2019t the problem; it\u2019s the first few days that cause him the most trouble.<\/p>\n

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How the North Americans fared at the Giro d\u2019Italia<\/h2>\n

The four American starters in this year\u2019s Giro were about par for the U.S. contingent in the 2020s, compared to a decade-low three in 2022 and 2025, and a high of eight in 2020.<\/p>\n

Before Kuss, the last U.S. male to win a Giro stage was Brandon McNulty in 2023. The now-retired Joe Dombrowski is the other U.S. Giro stage winner this decade, with a win in 2021.<\/p>\n

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Last year\u2019s runner-up Isaac del Toro \u2014 who rewrote racing history in 2025 with Mexico\u2019s first grand tour podium \u2014 skipped the Giro to focus on the Tour de France this year. Up next is the rebranded Dauphin\u00e9 in June.<\/p>\n

\"Giro
Kuss won a stage and helped Vingegaard win the 2026 Giro d\u2019Italia. <\/span> (Photo: Harry Talbot\/Gruber Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike): Stage 19 win, 13th overall<\/h2>\n

Kuss became the 13th U.S. male rider to win a Giro stage.<\/p>\n

This was his first Giro since the historic 2023 season when he helped Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d win the maglia rosa<\/em>, powered Jonas Vingegaard to Tour de France victory, and claimed the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a himself.<\/p>\n

The victory in stage 19 in the Giro\u2019s \u201cqueen stage\u201d made him only the second U.S. rider to officially win stages in all three grand tours.<\/p>\n

Out of 16 career grand tour starts, Kuss has shown astonishing durability, failing to finish only once (the 2022 Vuelta due to illness).<\/p>\n

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Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek): 2nd in stage 19, 5th overall<\/h2>\n

Gee-West rode to second behind Kuss on stage 19 in the Dolomites, for his fifth career runner-up finish at the Giro.<\/p>\n

He finished fifth overall, one place lower than his fourth-place result in 2025. Those two results make him the best Canadian at the Giro since Ryder Hesjedal\u2019s historic overall victory in 2012.<\/p>\n

Magnus Sheffield (Netcompany-Ineos), 42nd overall<\/h2>\n
\"Netcompany
Sheffield helped support Arensmen into the top 5 overall. (Photo: Netcompany-Ineos)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The New Yorker worked quietly in the trenches to help Thymen Arensman finish fourth overall. He finished 12th in the youth category in what\u2019s his second Giro and his third career grand tour.<\/p>\n

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Now on a contract year, it will be interesting to see if Sheffield extends with the team that he joined in 2022.<\/p>\n

Will Barta (Tudor Pro Cycling), 36th overall<\/h2>\n
\"Tudor
Tudor Pro Cycling lit up the 2026 Giro, with Warbasse and Barta playing key roles. <\/span> (Photo: Tudor Pro Cycling)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barta took huge pulls in the Dolomites to help GC captain Michael Storer defend a top 10 overall. The rider from Idaho finished his fourth Giro, posting a Giro-best 14th in the time trial.<\/p>\n

Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling), 51st overall<\/h2>\n

Nicknamed \u201cMr. Giro\u201d because he\u2019s raced so many editions of the Italian grand tour, he rode into the winning breakaway in stage 13, finishing a Giro-best 11th on the stage. He also sneaked into the big break in stage 20 as well, but Vingegaard had other plans. The Michigander posted solid work in his eighth career Giro.<\/p>\n

Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5) \u2014 DNF<\/h2>\n

DNF stage 17 after crashing out. The Canadian rode into two breakaways, finishing a Giro-best 13th on stage 11. He will recover and be hoping to land a spot on the Canadian national team for \u201chome worlds\u201d in Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Published June 3, 2026 02:12AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/gee-kuss-giro-2026.jpg”] Andrew Hood Published June 3, 2026 02:12AM Sepp Kuss made U.S. cycling history at the 2026 Giro d\u2019Italia. Derek Gee-West came within touching distance of a grand tour podium. And North American cycling, with just four Americans and two Canadians in the corsa rosa, made an outsized impact on one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1969559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1969559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1969559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1969559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1969559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}