Sepp Kuss - More Than a Super Domestique

Life in the Peloton, presented by MAAP

Mitch Docker

Fitness, Sports, Wilderness, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by Rapha It’s great timing to have this guy on the pod, he is the man of the moment and has been dominating the Vuelta a Espana – I’m talking of course about Sepp Kuss. I was so excited to get Sepp on the pod to learn a bit more about this enigmatic American rider and hear the backstory of his meteoric rise to the top ranks of the World Tour. He’s something of an anomaly in the pro peloton, having tread a very different route to the top of the sport. He came through the junior ranks as a mountain biker, having grown up in the remote, mountainous city of Durango Colorado, which is known for its incredible trails and vibrant mountain biking community. On moving to Boulder to study at university, he discovered road cycling and started racing on the American circuit. During his early days of racing, when he was just starting to capture the attention of American teams, it was a meeting with Jumbo-Visma DS Grischa Niermann that catapulted Kuss from a relatively unknown, new on the scene young American talent, to European pro, and one of the most sought-after domestiques in the sport - and more recently, bona fide Grand Tour contender. He’s part of a new generation of incredible American talent coming through the ranks, which is so exciting to watch, and we delve into some of this to see what the cycling landscape is like in the US currently in the post-Lance era, and where the future of the sport is headed. We also chatted about the pressures that come with being a Grand Tour contender, and whether he feels the pull to ride as a GC contender himself. We talked about what it’s like being the main support to these superstar riders, as well as the personalities and quirks among some of the sport’s biggest names that Sepp has ridden for. I hope you enjoy the listen! Cheers, Mitch

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, good-a-y-guid-a-goy-guid-all-you-guid-all-you-guer-could-old. This is Laii-A-Gas and welcome to the podcast. I'm Mitch Stocker. This is Life in the Peloton.
0:26.2	And we are here because of our proud partner in the podcast, Raffa. Raffer are all about their kit and they make the best cycling kit out there.
0:35.2	At the end of the day, Raffa is a clothing brand, but it is apparent
0:39.0	that their business will never be totally sustainable. That's never stopped them from recognising
0:44.1	the importance of being responsible and questioning what they do to ensure their impacts
0:49.0	are as small as they can be. From their product repair kits to incorporating recycling materials, they've always
0:55.7	led from the front in terms of sustainability within cycling. And one of their most exciting
1:01.2	things to come out of this is their excess collection, which is dropping right now another
1:06.4	collection, a new kind of collection turning excess materials into new products, one outfit at a time.
1:13.6	Now guys, Sepkus. He is a household name, one of the best at what he does, the Super Domestic.
1:20.6	A 28-year-old from Durango, Colorado, USA. He turned pro with Lotto Yumbao back in 2018 and he's still riding with them now.
1:30.2	In fact, as I record this, he is leading the Vuelta, Spania right now. In the red jersey,
1:37.6	how exciting is this? It's so interesting because among other things, this is exactly what
1:42.3	we're chatting about today in the podcast.
1:50.1	This position he is in. A super domestic, helping the best to win, races like the Tour de France,
1:54.9	the Jiro and the Vuelta. He's been right there at the point in with his team leader, Jonas Fingerguard,
1:59.6	with today Pagacho in their wheel at this year's Tour de France. So he knows what it takes to be right up the front. One of my
2:01.6	questions to him in this podcast is, Sep, when's your turn? Do we even want this role? And do you
2:08.9	believe you have the ability to win a grand tour? It's something I'm sure everyone is wondering
2:14.3	when you're out there watching it on TV. These final helpers, the super domestics, the lead-out men in the sprints, they're so close themselves, why can't they just win as well?
2:25.7	Speaking about grand tours, one thing I love to take with me on the road when I was racing was my AG1 travel packs.
2:32.0	And I still do it today when I'm traveling.
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