Kuss amazes Visma | Lease a Bike: "No one in the team had seen this coming"

"This win means a lot to me," said the climber riding for the Dutch team, who had to miss the Tour de France due to a COVID-19 infection. "I've had quite some setbacks this past year. Last Wednesday was already a very nice day for me with the stage win. Winning the overall classification of a multi-day stage race makes me very happy.”

"I didn't expect to be able to do this already. It was nice that I could race here with a lot of the guys selected for La Vuelta," Kuss said, referring to Edoardo Affini, Cian Uijtdebroeks and Robert Gesink. "The fact that it went so well right away, no one in the team had seen it coming. The victory in the general classification gives me a lot of confidence, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming races.”

Team leader Marc Reef agrees with his leader. "The main goal was to get rhythm towards La Vuelta. The fact that we also won one stage and took the overall classification is fantastic. For Sepp, it was a tough period. It's nice to see that, despite two crashes, he was able to show himself so much last week. This gives a lot of confidence," said the sports director.

Kuss will already be competing in the Clasica San Sebastian in the Basque Country on Saturday before starting as the defending champion in the Vuelta a España next Saturday. The Spanish race will kick off with a twelve-kilometer time trial in Lisbon, Portugal.