Sepp Kuss brings back a GC victory – and likability – to US cycling

The 29-year-old ended a long American drought with victory in the Vuelta a Espana. And he did so with a very different style to his predecessors

After a long wait, an American is once again at the center of the cycling universe. For three weeks, Sepp Kuss, the 29-year-old climber from Durango, Colorado, navigated the Pyrenees, the rampas inhumanas of Asturias, and threatening attacks from outside and within his own team. And he has emerged as the winner of the Vuelta a Espana.

This is the first grand tour win for an American since Chris Horner's stunning victory over Vincenzo Nibali at the 2013 Vuelta. In the intervening years, no American man has won a world championship or a monument either; Kuss is the only American to even lead a grand tour since Horner, and the only American since 2011 to win a stage of the Tour de France.