It is not ceaselessly you pay attention hiking experts getting passionate about off-road demanding situations, however with regards to Sepp Kuss and the Clásica Jaén, his first race of the 2025 season, it is transparent that there are a couple of standout exceptions to that unwritten rule.
Because the Visma-Hire a Motorbike racer put it within the countdown to the Clásica Jaén on Monday, the 169-kilometre race during the olive groves and dusty gravel tracks of Japanese Andalucia “has something for everybody, it’s a race where everybody has a chance”.
The segments of off-road are set to stick dry this 12 months, in contrast to in 2024 when wet prerequisites pressured a drastic last-minute relief within the untarmacked sectors by way of the organisers. There are 31 kilometres of Spanish sterrato on show within the 2025 race and in addition a large number of hiking, with over 2,900 metres of vertical achieve.
The province of Jaén is known for its endless ‘seas’ of olive timber, an agricultural custom that stretches again a minimum of 2,000 years in japanese Andalucia, and as Kuss mentioned: “It’s got a very Spanish landscape which is really nice, very special”.
“It’s a very technical race, but it’s one for anybody – climbers, Classics riders, lots of people can do well here,” Kuss showed.
“You have to have a lot of endurance, the climbs are different here because when you’re going up a hill on the off-road segments, you have to shift a lot of watts.”
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On most sensible of that, the relatively low collection of WorldTour groups – simply 5 of the 13 set to participate on this 12 months’s race – method the UCI 1.1 tournament is far much less managed than the most important WorldTour occasions.
There can also be without a doubt that, regardless that, Visma-Hire a Motorbike can be one of the vital most powerful groups in Monday’s race, with Kuss using along Tiesj Benoot and Wout van Aert within the Dutch squad. For Van Aert specifically, after an premature early puncture brought about by way of a big nail, simply as he headed into the primary sector of off-road brought about the Belgian to fail to notice any likelihood of luck, Van Aert will most likely have a robust sense of unfinished industry.
“We’ll have to control the race at some points but there could be chances for Wout, for Tiesj, for me – or for anybody,” Kuss mentioned.
“Wout is always keen to do well, and I’m guessing he’s in great shape after such a long off-season. For him the big goals are the Belgian Classics and a race in Jaén with so much off-road is ideal preparation for him.”
Kuss was once additionally racing along Van Aert on the Vuelta a España final 12 months, the place the Belgian was once unfortunate sufficient to crash out and injured within the 3rd week, simply when he had completed a notable comeback from his horrible fall in April within the Dwars door Vlaanderen.
Dressed in bib number one as protecting Vuelta champion, Sepp Kuss hugs Visma-Hire a Motorbike teammate Wout van Aert, who gained level 7 at 2024 Vuelta a España (Symbol credit score: Getty Pictures)
As Kuss sees it, competing once more along Van Aert once more in Spain – and because it occurs, the Clasica Jaén is the primary street race since that ill-fated Vuelta for each Belgian and American – looks like an effective way to place 2024 at the back of them and glance forward.
“Yes, of course, because it was really sad seeing him crash out like that, particularly when he was doing so well after such a tough spring when he was so unlucky and when he was holding both the points jersey and the KOM title,” Kuss mentioned.
“But this year, we can start afresh again. He’s really keen to get moving and do a great Classics season, right up to Flanders and Roubaix. It makes me happy, too, to be with him in the first races of the year.”
Albeit in an excessively other option to Van Aert, Kuss himself had a difficult Vuelta a España final 12 months, the place as protecting champion he got here in as one of the vital most sensible favourites. As a substitute, Kuss completed a below-expectations 14th total, and this after a promising-looking victory within the Vuelta a Burgos in early August had recommended he’d be again within the Vuelta GC operating evidently.
“I don’t know if I was looking to win, but I had the feeling that I had great form, the thing was I wasn’t very good at handling the pressure of being sole leader,” defined Kuss, who had by no means been a selected GC contender ahead of the 2023 Vuelta.
“Before the season, the idea had to been to go to the [2024] Vuelta with Wout and Jonas [Vingegaard] and I could play my role, without any real pressure, like in the 2023 Vuelta.
“However final 12 months was once very other as a result of, I used to be sole [GC] chief within the crew, and I did not have the legs I wanted in the important thing moments. [There was] extra force than ahead of,” he said, referencing Vingegaard’s crash in the spring, where he suffered major injuries and ended his season after the Tour de Pologne in August.
“It is very other to be a pace-setter that is aware of that you are going there to a race to win, somehow. If you’re a domestique you’ll cross to a race and if you are just right, nice, but when no longer, it is not the top of the arena. That is very other.”
His revised strategy for 2025 will be based more on doing well where he can, but like in 2023, without going into events with the specific goal of being leader. The Clásica Jaén will be the first chance to try that strategy out again in 2025, followed by the Volta ao Algarve later this week, where he’ll have both Vingegaard and Van Aert in the Visma lineup.
“I do know the opponents’ ranges, Jonas’ [Vingegaard’s] stage, and the way sturdy he’s. It is going to be an honour to lend a hand him,” Kuss concluded. “I will do what I will be able to when I will be able to, like I did two years in the past.
“I just want to be satisfied with my performance and do the maximum I can. But doing it this way, there will be less pressure.”
