808 Strava KOMs: A record-breaking season for Sepp Kuss

Sepp Kuss was coronated as the champion of the 2023 Vuelta a España on Sunday evening, but he also climbed another kind of crown - 808 of them to be precise.

Over the course of his victorious three-week lap of Spain, the US rider racked up an enviable array of ‘King of the Mountain’ records on Strava, becoming the biggest KOM-bagger of the pro peloton in 2023.

According to Strava, Kuss has claimed a whopping 808 KOMs this year, which is “more than any other pro athlete in 2023”. It may well be that an amateur rider with a penchant for KOM-hunting has more in the bag.

KOMs are a popular feature of the social riding platform, Strava, in which real-world roads and trails (flats and descents as well as climbs) are broken down into segments and riders are automatically timed across them to form an all-time leaderboard. With anyone able to create segments, there are many millions in the world, some as notable as the full ascent of l’Alpe d’Huez, others as mundane as the 30 metres between the traffic lights and your local corner store.

Kuss has had plenty of segment exposure in 2023, riding and completing all three Grand Tours, adding up to nearly 10,000 metres of riding through Italy, France, and Spain.

On the flatter days, he tends to slink through anonymously, but on the mountain stages, he is more often than not at the forefront of the race, not least at the Vuelta as the loyal servant turned leader.

It’s worth pointing out that not all pro riders upload their rides to Strava, and two very notable exceptions are Kuss’ Jumbo-Visma teammates Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, winners of the year’s Tour de France and Giro d’Italia respectively, and both on the podium with Kuss at the Vuelta.

As such, Kuss’ biggest haul of KOMs, including his most prestigious of the year, came on the infamous stage 17, which concluded atop the fearsome Alto de l’Angliru. Kuss now has the KOM for the full Angliru - 13.2km at 9.3% - taking the crown by more than a minute from Richard Carapaz. However, his two teammates of course climbed it 19 seconds faster than him, riding away from the red jersey in one of the most controversial moments in recent racing memory.

Read more:

• Analysis: Hierarchies become clear as Jumbo-Visma drop Sepp Kuss on the Angliru
• Van Baarle admits Angliru affair 'maybe looked strange' but denies Jumbo-Visma unrest
• Chris Horner: Jumbo-Visma backed Sepp Kuss in Vuelta a España due to fans' outcry and PR nightmare

In addition, Carapaz’s time wasn’t even the quickest on his day, with Hugh Carthy winning that stage of the 2020 Vuelta but not uploading his ride to Strava. The all-time climbing record for the Angliru is said to be Roberto Heras’ 41:55 from 2002, more than a minute faster than Kuss’ Strava segment time of 43:05.

Still, Kuss’ record-breaking 2023 KOM-bagging is quite the achievement, given the likes of Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel regularly log their racing on Strava.

The Vuelta a España may be over, but there's still plenty of time to catch up on any racing you might have missed, with on-demand coverage and highlights available on GCN+. As for news, standings and race reports, make sure to check out our Vuelta a España landing page.