He didn’t have any other signs of having crashed, so why does the American’s 1000-watt smile suddenly feature a gap mid-race?
(Photo: JASPER JACOBS / BELGA MAG / Belga / AFP via Getty Images)
Published July 11, 2026 12:30PM
Sepp Kuss rocked up to the start line at the Tour de France Friday with his trademark smile.
Though Tadej Pogačar gave the peloton a drubbing the previous day, the Colorado climber sounded much like his usual self, and ready to empty the tank for Jonas Vingegaard.
Then everyone noticed something: a gap in his smile. What happened to his front tooth?
There were no cuts, scrapes, or bandages. No obvious sign of a crash. But a small chunk was clearly missing from Kuss’ otherwise high-wattage smile.
“You have to bite the bullet, but sometimes the bullet bites back and you chip your tooth,” Kuss joked on Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Victor Campenaerts’ daily Tour vlog. “No interview requests from here on out I hope.”
Campenaerts joked back that it happened when he opened up a gap on Remco in the sprint.
So what happened?
Visma team officials confirmed that Kuss did not crash. The dental drama unfolded during Thursday’s brutal mountain stage over the Col du Tourmalet. A crown on one of Kuss’ front teeth, dating back to an earlier incident, came loose while he was drinking from a bidon.
Of course, he’s too busy right now to schedule a visit to the dentist. It’s still two weeks to Paris, so the crown has to wait.