December 19, 2023 looks likely to be a key day for Sepp Kuss’ 2024 season.
That evening in Madrid, Kuss will discover – along with the rest of the cycling world – what the 2024 route of the Vuelta a España will be. Once the last Grand Tour route of 2024 finally becomes clear, suddenly the defending Vuelta champion Kuss and Jumbo-Visma will have a much better idea of what next season will hold for him.
The 2024 Giro d’Italia, won by soon-to-be former teammate Primoz Roglič this May, has already been ruled out by Kuss, as had the prospect of him racing all three Grand Tours in a single year, as he did in 2023.
If there had been any second thoughts over Kuss‘ Giro participation, the gentler route through the mountains compared to 2023 – an ascent of the Stelvio notwithstanding – and the inclusion of two medium-length time trials in the first 10 days, have surely caused them to evaporate completely.
That’s before you even consider Wout van Aert’s interest in taking part and how that may affect Jumbo-Visma’s gameplan and – at least according to senior DS Merijn Zeeman earlier this season – the team rejecting any major GC ambitions at the Giro in favour of using the race to test out their younger riders. Whether Cian Uijtdebroeks is amongst those Jumbo riders remains to be seen, but it’s worth noting that long before the recent eruption of his contract drama, he had already expressed a great deal of interest in taking part in the Italian Grand Tour.
The question of how Kuss manages his efforts at the other Grand Tours – namely, how many eggs he puts into the respective 2024 Tour and 2024 Vuelta-shaped baskets, if you like – remains up in the air, at least for now. Even with Primoz Roglič no longer in the picture at Jumbo-Visma, the huge step forward Kuss took in last year’s Vuelta makes it anything but simple to put together exactly how he tackles two of the biggest bike races in the world in less than three months.
“I think the thing I’m most looking forward to is going to the Vuelta being the defending champion, and also going to the Tour and doing my best there, whether it’s for myself or for Jonas,” Kuss said this earlier this autumn. The underlying implication being that as the rider with the number one dorsal on his back in Lisbon next August 17, he would automatically have full-blown GC options.
But imagine for a moment that the Vuelta 2024 route, when unveiled, actually includes a pancake flat 40-kilometre time trial in the first week….
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