With three Grand Tours, you’ve already covered a significant number of kilometers and meters of elevation, but Sepp Kuss went well beyond that. The Dutch website Wieler Revue conducted a retrospective through the cycling social platform Strava of the 2023 Vuelta a España champion. And the numbers are impressive.
Not all professionals take this seriously because not all WorldTour cyclists put all or part of their activities on the cycling social platform. Sepp Kuss does.
The American covered a total of 29,007 kilometers in 256 activities, averaging over 110 kilometers per day. He did this in just under 900 hours and gained 547,019 meters of elevation on his rides. That’s equivalent to 62 Mount Everests!
Perhaps even more impressive than these numbers is the fact that 2023 had 260 days so far, and Kuss recorded 256 activities. This means he only took four days off. Considering weather conditions like rain, snow, and floods, as seen in the Vuelta, these numbers become even more significant.
6-hour training sessions are the norm for Kuss
Another interesting aspect is that six-hour training sessions are the rule, not the exception. In February, Kuss went to Colombia for a training camp and went above and beyond. He used to spend seven to eight hours on the bike there—something he regularly does where he lives in Andorra, according to his coach Mathieu Heijboer.
KOM Records
The platform often records the best times on specific segments, known as KOMs (King of the Mountains). This is a point of pride for amateurs when they achieve a KOM. Strava announced it would collect the most KOMs of any professional in 2023. Sepp Kuss’s numbers are even more impressive: 808 KOMs!