Kuss describes tensions with Roglic and Vingegaard within Jumbo-Visma: "At that time, everyone universally agreed with it"

Kuss and Thomas also looked back at the Giro, where the latter and Primoz Roglic fought a nerve-wracking seconds game during the final time trial. What was Jumbo-Visma's tactic to drive Thomas out of pink? "We were optimistic. We knew that the last time trial would be crucial because of the difficulty of the climb. Primoz knew what was coming and had confidence. In the stages before, we were a bit reserved and didn't have to do anything crazy," Kuss elaborates on the attitude of Roglic, who won the Giro with a quarter-minute lead.

Of course, the Vuelta was the biggest topic of conversation. Lenny Martinez got the red jersey after stage six; two days later, Kuss took over. From then on, the American began thinking about his chances, which he saw growing after the time trial. "Before the time trial, I thought: cool to have the jersey, I'm going to see how far I get. But I also thought: this adventure will end, and that's OK." Kuss factored in either a bad day or an order from the team. "But after the time trial, I still had margin, and then I started thinking about how long I could keep the jersey."

The remainder of the Vuelta brought tensions within the Jumbo-Visma camp. "We talked with the three of us (Jonas Vingegaard, Roglic, and Kuss, ed.) and the team managers. We agreed that we would make the course hard and then see which of us would be best. That was okay with me. After all, I didn't feel like I was going to have a bad day. But then it started. One is wearing the jersey, one has a big gap and can, therefore, attack more freely, and the third is in between," Kuss is referring successively to himself, Vingegaard, and Roglic after two weeks of racing. 'Primoz couldn't chase and was in between. That was annoying for him. All our rivals dropped out. We ended up in this situation and didn't know what was coming."

"You have to be honest. I was struggling because I had never been in this situation. Jonas and Primoz were. They are winners. That's why I wasn't going to demand things. I realized I had the jersey because of the strength of our team. I wasn't going to put the Giro winner and the Tour winner in their place." Kuss agrees that it made him feel uncomfortable that his teammates were attacking and no other teams were chasing. "That was strange. I was hoping help was coming. But I also wanted him to win the stage," he alludes to Vingegaard's victory in stage 16 to Bejes.

The stage to the Angliru was the highlight of the strange Vuelta course: "It was a mix of everything. I was on the limit. I got dropped and thought it was over, but this was what we had agreed on," he refers to the discussion with Roglic, Vingegaard, and the team managers. "I was still good. But they were going so hard. I was also just doing my best. Afterwards, we discussed the next scenario: how is this going to end? You also think about the moments you helped them. How fixed are the roles of leader and domestique? We had to make a decision then because you remain a team. Then everyone was okay with a universal decision to leave it that way," Kuss concluded about the decision that he would win the Vuelta.