Sepp Kuss has urged fans not to read too much into his spring performances, as the American enters a new chapter of increased expectations following his win in the Vuelta a España last year.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider is currently racing the Volta a Catalunya and sits eighth on GC with three stages remaining, a position he finished in during February’s Volta a Algarve.
Tadej Pogačar looks to be running away with the win at Catalunya, so a better barometer to compare Kuss’ form to is that of Soudal-QuickStep’s Mikel Landa who is second overall; in the race’s two high mountain stages, Kuss has ceded 1-05, including bonus seconds, to the Spaniard.
Kuss’s main season objectives are the Tour de France and Vuelta, and although he will be lining up at both the Itzulia Basque Country and Critérium du Dauphiné, neither he nor his team are demanding that he achieves podium finishes in those races.
“I’d love to win or do better here but I know the level in these one week races, especially in the spring, is always so high that you can’t achieve things that aren’t possible,” the 29-year-old told Cycling Weekly ahead of stage four of Catalunya.
“You’ve always got to go into it hoping for the best and not giving up beforehand, but I know for myself physically and mentally that the best races for me are the Grand Tours and those are still pretty far away so it’s hard to take too much stock of what’s happening now.”
Kuss’ coach, Mathieu Heijboer, has previously said that making Kuss a leader at one week races is not the approach that would elicit the best form out of the Coloradan, although there is clearly some hope from the team that he can be consistent at all races, as evidenced by him wearing number 11 in northern Spain, denoting that he is their principal rider.
Is managing external expectations the biggest task for Kuss this season? “I don’t think it’s so much of a challenge because I know what I’ve already done and I can be really happy with that,” he answered.
“There’s always expectations for everybody, but for me it’s only on myself. I have to concentrate on feeling good and doing my best.
“I’ve not done the training I would do before the big races yet, but already I’m in good shape so for me that’s really nice. I feel really good without doing the real hard training and it shows that I still have room to grow.”
