TOUR·KINETIC

Visma | Lease a Bike · 2026 Tour de France
Chief climbing domestique
Sepp Kuss

The Eagle of Durango remains the gold standard of mountain domestiques — the loyal shadow who has paced Vingegaard up every decisive climb of his Tour victories.

Sepp Kuss paper-collage portrait in the 2026 Visma | Lease a Bike kit

The Eagle of Durango remains the gold standard of mountain domestiques — the loyal shadow who has paced Vingegaard up every decisive climb of his Tour victories. He arrives flying, having just won the queen stage of the 2026 Giro in the Dolomites, out-climbing Giulio Ciccone to Piani di Pezzè while still protecting pink. With a double ascent of Alpe d'Huez looming, no teammate matters more.

Palmarès

  • Vuelta a España GC winner (2023)
  • Giro d'Italia queen-stage (stage 19) winner (2026)
  • Tour de France stage 15 winner (2021)
  • Vuelta a España stage 15 winner (2019)
  • Vuelta a España 7th overall (2025)
Cut-out factHis Giro 2026 queen-stage victory made him the 116th rider in history to win stages in all three Grand Tours — and he won three collegiate mountain-bike national titles before switching to the road.

The squad

Riding the 2026 Tour with Jonas Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson, Bruno Armirail, Victor Campenaerts, Edoardo Affini, Per Strand Hagenes, Davide Piganzoli — see the full Visma | Lease a Bike team page.

Portrait: AI paper-collage render (gpt-image-2) after a reference photograph — source: Wikimedia Commons, author: Foveon producciones, license: CC BY-SA 4.0. A fan project — not affiliated with the Tour de France or A.S.O.