Vuelta a España champion Sepp Kous has said he is willing to be "more helpers" at next year's Tour de France, but according to Root, he can aim to put himself in GC.

Despite recently becoming a Grand Tour winner, the US rider is widely expected to return to Jonas Vingegaard's usual super domestique role on May 7 next year.

He often races among GC candidates "without really thinking" when he finishes 12th on the 2023 tour and told the Escape Collective last week. The route for the next summer race from Tuscany to Nice will be announced next week and, depending on the situation, his roles could range from helpers to co-leaders.

"I think what I'm most looking forward to is going to the Vuelta, the defending champion, and going on tour and doing my best there, whether it's for myself or Jonas," he said.

"It's not ideal for some routes, so given the situation, I'm happy to be more of a helper on the tour. [2023] It was a little exception; It was a pretty good route for me, and thanks to doing my job, I've been with the best people at GC for a while, but actually it's

"So we'll see what the route is like on the tour, maybe that's what I can go."

Kus, who won the Vuelta ahead of Vingegaard and left his teammate Primoš Roglić in a seemingly awkward intra-team truce last week, said he had to switch his mindset towards the grand Tour to some extent.

He said he may have previously been on a grand tour with the idea of saving energy and losing time to work for team leaders. But encouragement from both his wife and his teammate Vingegaard saw Kuss become more comfortable in what he called the role of "shadow leader."

"Jonas, in particular, he is a more verbal leader. So, it's his nature, but in certain situations where I need to be at the front, he really coached me," he said.

"And from his experience, having only won two tours in a row, you have to be really sharp every day and he has really helped me stay on top of what I usually check out.

"Now I know I can win the Grand Tour. And it definitely gives me a lot of confidence. I know I can take my body to that level and also my mind to that level – I've been through 3 weeks of pressure and everything

Cuss said that when he won the Vuelta, he learned to be "a bit more cutthroat and more selfish." The change in mentality as a rider is what he said the switch from domestique to leader was a big one and he was keen not to let him change as a person.

"I think it depends on what situation I am in," Kuss said. "I think I learned that in order to win the race, I need to be a little more cutthroat and more selfish," he said. You really have to focus on you – for better or worse.

"I think there were a lot of situations in the Vuelta that were still in the mindset of my teammates and those guys who didn't have that killer instinct. And it was still working for me, and I was proud of the way I did it and the way I handled it.

"But I am also aware of a lot, for example, that the winner has a different mindset than me and that balance without losing who I am as a person"