Durango’s Sepp Kuss, who celebrated his 24th birthday during the final week of his Grand Tour debut at the Spanish Vuelta, finished in 65th in the general classification standings.
The Team LottoNL-Jumbo World Tour rookie was 2 hours, 20 minutes, 11 second behind the winning time of Simon Yates.
Kuss’ three-week ride was highlighted by a 10th-place finish during the seventh stage. The support rider was fresh off three stage wins and the overall championship at the Tour of Utah earlier in August. He was proud to help his teammate Steven Kruijswijk to a fourth-place finish in the overall standings in Spain.
Only one American, Benjamin King, had a better Vuelta than Kuss. King won a pair of stages and finished 24th in the general classification, 1:03:40 behind Yates. Kuss finished one spot ahead of Brent Bookwalter and was ahead of other Americans in Joey Rosskopf (81st), Ian Boswell (126th) and Kiel Reijnen (135th).
“First Grand Tour done & dusted,” Kuss said in a post to Instagram. “Really enjoyed the atmosphere, fans, and almost a month of racing with a nice group. ... Learned a lot being part of such a strong group and definitely surprised myself with what was possible.”
Next for Kuss is a chance to wear the USA Cycling jersey at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck-Tirol, Austria. He will race Sept. 30 in the 160.62-mile road race.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
