The Road Book Society, Rider of The Year - Sepp Kuss

The under-dog, hero of the people, a man that has been the super-domestique for many seasons – a workhorse anyone would want on their team, Sepp Kuss' loyalty is unquestionable. 

Sepp’s career started in mountain biking, while he studied at university, in 2014 and 2015, he won three national titles at the Collegiate championships in XC and short track. These are bike handling skills he has carried forward into his successful road career, riding within the peloton and squeezing through gaps is no easy fate.  

In 2016 Sepp’s cycling career really took flight, he had a plan to take it as far as he could – maybe not quite expecting to go WorldTour and win a stage race. His 2016 season started with Gateway Harley Davidson/Trek team, swiftly transferring to the Rally cycling team, in the latter part of the season, thanks to his exceptional results.  

Kuss joined LottoNL-Jumbo on a two-year contract from 2018 and took his cycling up another level. 2020 saw Kuss show his true strength within a team, helping guide his team-mate Primoz Roglic through the Tour de France, while finishing 15th on GC himself, from here, his career has flourished, even as he and the world embarked on a couple of incredibly tough years during covid.  

The Tour de France saw Kuss breakaway on stage 15 to take the win, something he was truly worthy of and undoubtedly filled him with the confidence he required to continue building on his top performances.  

So why did Kuss get voted as Rider of The Year.  

Well, he’s a well-loved cyclist by fans, a genuine, hardworking and exceptionally talented young rider. He came to the peloton a bit later than some of the youngsters who are coming through the ranks these days – maybe this will prolong his career or maybe it’ll just mean his career will be shorter. One thing we know for certain is, he’s destined to be a key player in any team he races for.  

However, this year he was said to have been treated poorly by the team-mates he gives up much of his time for. The Vuelta a Espana brought spectators to a near social media meltdown, something that hadn’t been seen a long time when Kuss was leading the GC, riding like an absolute trooper, only to have some of his team-mates – Roglic and Vingegaard do the unthinkable and look to be riding against him, or was it a publicity stunt... we’ll never know.  

Apart from the flawless talent Sepp Kuss withholds and his extraordinary results Palmares he is gradually building; we believe the uncertain events that took place within Jumbo this year are a contribution to his winning of The Rider of The Year.  

We hope to see an even bigger future for Kuss within Jumbo, with the transfer from Roglic it hopefully provides space for Kuss to explore his talent and have more freedom within the peloton.