Sepp Kuss: For me personally, cheating or doping is just out of the question

Sepp Kuss has told the Vuelta a España media that doping or cheating in any form within professional cycling is "just out of the question" for him.

Kuss is on the verge of making history as he becomes the first US male cyclist to win a Grand Tour in 10 years at the Vuelta, and at his press conference after stage 20 the Jumbo-Visma rider laid out his position on one of professional cycling’s most sensitive topics.

Flanked either side by his teammates Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard as Jumbo-Visma close in on a historic podium shut-out, Kuss was asked an array of questions from the gathering media in Guadarrama.

British cycling journalist Chris Marshall-Bell from RadioCycling asked all three Jumbo-Visma riders for their stance on doping in light of the fact that the Dutch team are set to become the first men’s team to win all three Grand Tours in one season, and that one of the team’s rider’s outside of the Vuelta has been handed a provisional suspension after testing positive for an unnamed diuretic in June.

"I think for me personally, cheating or doping is just out of the question because it’s not even sports for me then," Kuss said.

"Part of sports is losing, and of course you want to win but if you’re doing something that’s prohibited or cheating then you’re afraid of losing, which I think is one of the most important things about sports: accepting that sometimes you’re not good enough. That’s just how it is," he added.

Read more: Something changed in Sepp Kuss and he was ready to fight for it, says Jumbo-Visma director

Vingegaard has his say

Vingegaard was the first rider to address the question. The Danish rider had been asked a similar version to today’s inquiry back at the Tour de France in July after securing his second yellow jersey. Vingegaard, who heads into Madrid second overall, gave a detailed response on both his stance and that of his team’s, stating that the reason for their success was entirely down to hard work and sacrifice.

He did acknowledge that scepticism should be accepted and discussed but that unproven allegations - which Jumbo-Visma have faced earlier the race when Jérôme Pineau claimed the team raced with motors in their bikes - should be handled without the same level of respect.

"For sure we understand the scepticism that there is but people also need to know how much we sacrifice for everything and how much we do everything in detail," Vingegaard said.

"We go into every detail to be as good as possible. I think that especially in this team, we do everything perfectly and it makes such a big difference, and I don’t think that people realise how much of a difference it makes. I think it’s always good to be sceptical, especially when a team is doing well, as long as it’s not allegations and as long as we speak about it, because of what happened 20 years ago, then I think that will prevent it happening again.

"I’m 100 per cent sure that my two colleagues are not taking anything as well as myself."