I sure hope he gets a chance to go for an overall win. He’s certainly one of the best climbers in the peloton these days. Does he have the mental toughness to handle the pressure of being the team leader while wearing a pink, red, or yellow jersey? Only one way to find out, I suppose. And who knows, maybe he’s happy being a super-domestique and getting paid plenty to keep doing it.

He has quite some potential, but seems to prefer to not need to be the guy for the overall as of now.

"Maybe later on, once I’ve become a bit more seasoned it’s possible, but right now, I can’t imagine myself being a Grand Tour contender. It comes with a lot of things outside the race itself, while in the race you have to think about every bit of energy, whether you’re saving it or wasting it. For some guys it comes more naturally, but to me right now, that doesn’t sound too enjoyable."

(interview from before TdF https://www.cyclingnews.com/...-a-work-in-progress/ )

Today's TT should give a confirmation why he himself is not going for an "overall chance". But they should launch him loose in a race like the Dauphine which is generally climber friendly. His best chance for a Grand Tour would always be the Vuelta, but even there it has too much TTing.

Indeed. It'd be fun to watch him go all out on a demanding stage (such as the Vuelta's stage 12 this year) just to see what he can really achieve with no reins.

As a domestique he's not going to try very hard in the TT, so today doesn't really mean much.

Do you think he is as good as Brandon McNulty? Brandon is a GC contender who can TT and win. Sepp is a great rider on the best team out there. Look at Tom Dom, Wout, the 3rd best Slov rider, Martin and who as o missing.

My point being is they are both cursed by being he 2nd best guy on the team.

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http://www.researchms.org/trifest/

It is probably a decent proxy of his TT potential, just not a precise indication of absolute potential. In all seriousness, I am interested if Sepp has ever done a notable time trial which would indicate he can win a Grand Tour. I am not aware of any yet, but have not closely tracked his career. There is nothing to suggest he is in the category of Froome before Froome was a contender. Froome could climb and TT as soon as he lost weight (sometime after Barloworld days). I am just not aware of any TT winner results. He could end up in the category of Dan Martin on the GC level

Yeah, I agree he's probably not that great at TT. And with his build he'll struggle to ever match the like of Roglic on the flat sections.

Just saying that he's unlikely to "send it" on today's TT, even on the last 1.8km. Though I could be wrong.

I think the modern GC rider is more a TT guy that develops into a part time climber than the other way round.
A lot of guys can climb and a lot of guys can TT but very few guys can do both at world class level. And I think it is easier for a bigger TT guy to lose some weight and climb better than it is for a small mountain goat to TT.

I think about Wiggins, Froome, Dumoulin, Roglic.
Or look at what Van Aert or Dennis can do as mountain domestiques. They, as TT/rouleurs sometimes drop pure climbers. You never see that the other way round.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

To me, he looked like the strongest climber on the Angliru on Sunday. He had the look in his eye of someone who could have gone with Mas/Carthy but was holding back to help out Roglic.

Given the right course, he'd probably do fine. Though he'd probably need a mega-mountain stage like the Stelvio in this year's Giro to make it count. Unfortunately, much as with TTs, those are becoming endangered in Grand Tours.

Today he was 2:15 behind Carapaz who HAS won a Grand Tour and could win this one. So let's assume he soft pedaled, and could go another minute faster. Does that get him close enough to the range....and does he climb less well when he can never take a day easy in the mountains (the GC guy's work is never done until the finish line, the super domestique can still back off whether it is a climbing stage or a meaningless flat stage). It would be interesting. He is 13 minutes off on the GC which means he had at least 10 minutes of not burning matches that the GC guy has to burn at generally the highest tempo of the entire race. So once that super climber has to "GC it" suddenly they have less energy daily.

well, in the vuelta he is the 3rd placed rider on GC from his team. Bennett has a number of solid GT GC performances behind him (often sitting around the top-10, plus ToC win and a classic this year), without yet having had a chance as an actual team leader. he was supposed to lead at the giro this year before things got switched around.

with jumbo-visma having 3 genuine, proven GT podium guys it is going to tough for either bennett or kuss to get a shot. their best chance, short of changing teams, is for a TGH style opportunity, inheriting leadership. even that is slim pickings given that JV will often have 2 or even 3 of their genuine leaders present. that is in fact the other possibility - the plan this year was for all 3 leaders to do the tour, leaving the giro for bennett to have his chance. a variety of circumstances entirely out of bennetts control led to him being drafted in to the tour team instead but if they go all in for the tour again then one of bennett and kuss could get to lead at the giro next year

JV are looking a lot like skyneos - add in WvA who could take the green jersey if he wasn't on domestique duty (and if groenewegen isn't doing the sprints)... one can only assume these guys are being well rewarded for their work and confident they will get their chances as and when they are the best option from their team (after all, if you're not even the best on your team then you can't expect to be the best overall)

Based on his TT, it may be a while.
I know he may have soft pedaled so help his team later so?????
He is fun to watch and very talented. It also looks like he is still learning how to race a Grand Tour. My “guess” is he is a year or two away from leading a team if he can continue to improve.

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Team Zoot So Cal

He’ll likely get his chance the next time his contract is up if he’s willing to accept a team leader position.

1. Is not his job at the moment.
2. He’s publicly said that he doesn’t want to be a GC rider.
3. I’m not sure he can TT at that level or has any interest in being able to.

To be a GC guy, you need to not just have great days, you need to not have bad days.

Sepp is an awesome climber and on any given stage may be the strongest in the group...but not every mtn stage. That's the kind of profile that gets you a Top10 GC placing and some really nice stage wins. Guy with this profile have a choice: try to improve and be a GC guy on a top team, be the GC guy for a small team and get those Top10s and stage wins, or (a-la Heras) take a big payday to be a climbing super-domestique for a major GC contender (who is also paying to not have to ride against you).

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Wout Pouls and Landa fit your description....Richie Porte also did but he finally had the Tour de France without his jour sans. Even in climbing heavy race, he would have to climb every day like the old Quintana or the current Carapaz and also not get caught napping on flat and windy stages, contend every day to the 3km to go mark on sprinter stages (using up valuable energy that eats into subsequent climbing stages) and also up the ITT a bit.