- Stefan Kung missed the medal in the World Championships time trial in Flanders and finished fifth.
- Swiss Stefan Bisiger came second in seventh, both more than a minute away from the gold medal.
- In the title fight, Wout van Aert and Filippo Ganna are battling head-on – with a better ending for defending champion Ganna.
Stefan Küng was unable to add another medal to Palmarès at the World Time Trial Championships in Flanders, Belgium. The 27-year-old from Torgau had to settle for fifth after 43.3km on level with the finish line in Bruges. Judging by Küng’s ambitions and achievements so far this season – he became European champion 10 days ago – this placement is a disappointment.
In contrast to the Olympic time experience in Tokyo, when Küng missed the bronze medal by only four tenths, the gap on the podium was even larger this time. At the end of the day, Küng was under 20 seconds off third and over a minute for gold.
She fell behind in the middle section
Küng started the race on Knokke-Heist Beach as the third driver out of the last driver. In the first intermediate time after a good 13 kilometres, the 2020 bronze winner finished third behind Filippo Gana and Wout van Aert. In the next 20 kilometers until the next measurement, the Swiss lost almost half a minute and fell back to fifth.
As a result, Küng was not able to offset this mortgage. Küng couldn’t keep up with the times of Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) and Kasper Asgreen (DEN). And since teammates Ganna and Van Aert, who started after him, were in a class of their own, Küng had to settle for fifth in the end.
His compatriot of the same name Stefan Bissegger, who had tackled the race earlier, finished seventh. Meanwhile, the 23-year-old set a clear best time, which was visibly undermined by later bronze winner Remko Evenpoel. For Bessger, this was the first race among the elite in the World Championships.
Jenna defends the title
In the absence of Olympic champion Primoz Roglic and other medal winners from Tokyo, Tom Dumoulin and Rohan Dennis, the fight for the world title turned into a duel between Jana and Van Aert.
In the second split, the Italians and the Belgians were practically connected. But as Ganna was able to improve again in the last 10km, the Italian was ultimately five seconds ahead of his title defense.
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