American Cyclist Sepp Kuss Finishes Tour De France Covered In Blood After Nasty Wreck Gashes Face And Arms

Sepp Kuss is the United States' best hope of winning the Tour de France in the foreseeable future. It won't be this year.

Kuss, a 28-year-old from Colorado, is one of the top climbers in the world but he rides mostly in support of his teammate Jonas Vingegaard to help his captain to a win in the overall standings. However, it is not impossible to imagine a reality where his team cuts him loose in the future, for either a stage win, or multiple stage wins. Again, just not in 2023.

The American has had a rough go this year. Two pretty major crashes have hindered his ability to crack the top ten and have kept him well out of podium contention.

It started with a selfie during Stage 15.

And then, during Stage 20 on Saturday, Kuss suffered his nastiest spill yet. He and Carlos Rodríguez, who was also was in reach of a podium finish, came around a corner on a downhill switchback and lost their bikes out from under them.

They came up from the wreck with some pretty serious cuts. Rodríguez and Kuss were both bleeding from their faces, among other parts of their bodies, and nobody would have faulted them if they had abandoned the race.

I'm all good. I feel OK. Rodríguez's tire blew up round a corner and there was no way around it so I just somersaulted.

Neither dropped out of the race.

Kuss and Rodríguez finished out Stage 20 of the Tour de France.

The former in particular was really beat up.

As Kuss tried to climb his way back into the pack, blood was gushing from his face and essentially rendered his bandages useless. He was a mess, but did not waver in his pursuit of the finish line.

His right arm was pretty torn up as well.

Sepp Kuss kept peddling. (Image courtesy: Tour de France World Feed)

Here is how he looked as he crossed the finish line:

Sepp Kuss completes Stage 20 (Image courtesy: Tour de France World Feed)

Unfortunately, Kuss dropped out of the Top 10 because of the wreck. That doesn't make his Tour any less impressive. Even just finishing on Saturday was a strong performance.

He looked horrible, even worse than on screen. But he was smiling, as always, immediately asking how I was doing. He's such an amazing guy.

Kuss was still in good spirits.

To make it even more impressive, Kuss finished out the 2023 Tour de France on Sunday and rode Stage 20 with stitches in his face and bandages on his arm. The American has that dawg in him!