Published September 19, 2023 07:58AM
Sepp Kuss is the king of the KOMs
The newly crowned Vuelta champ also got the most crowns on Strava this year.
Three grand tours, three winners. Jumbo-Visma spread its success in 2023. (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
So as not to let a single one of his accomplishments go unnoticed this year, the folks over at Strava have informed us that Sepp Kuss is the king of the KOMs thus far in 2023.
Kuss, who just won the Vuelta a España in dramatic fashion, also won Strava this year, racking up 808 KOMs on the activity tracking platform in 2023. He did this while accumulating more than 29,000 kilometers and almost 900 hours (more than 37 days) on the bike in activities uploaded to Strava.
Just like the pink, yellow, and red stripes on the fork of his new custom Cervélo S5, Kuss earned himself ‘king of the mountains’ in all three of 2023’s grand tours.
On stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia with the finish on Monte Bondone, Kuss managed to push Primoz Roglič to third place and placed fifth with a total of 11 new KOMs.
Then, during July’s Tour de France, Kuss led eventual winner Jonas Vingegaard to third place over stage 14’s 4,000 meters of climbing, taking fifth place and 15 new KOMs along the way.
Finally, during stage 6 of the Vuelta, Kuss completed a high-level escape to win the stage, just two days before he would secure, and never let go of, the race’s coveted red jersey. He earned three KOMs on the Javalambre segments that day.