'Otherwise I won't be able to sleep for a week': Ganna and Küng miss out on Olympic medals by slimmest of margins

Stefan Küng has said he will try to forget about the Tokyo Olympics time trial as soon as possible, "otherwise I won't be able to sleep for a week," he joked.

It could not have been closer for the European TT champion, as he finished an agonising four-tenths of a second slower than third-place Australian Rohan Dennis in the race against the clock.

The Swiss rider, as well as world champion Filippo Ganna, came galloping up the finishing straight with the seconds ticking down, both coming across the line only just past Dennis' time.

"After an hour I am three seconds off the silver today," Küng continued. "Everyone was so close together," Küng said, having finished just outside the minor medal positions, with Primož Roglič decimating the rest of the competition by over a minute on the undulating course.

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“Actually, I didn't have Primož Roglič and Tom Dumoulin at the top of my favourites list. But in this time trial I stayed in the same position every time and the others circled around me in the intervals.”

After time trial victories at his national championships and then the Tour de Suisse, Küng was edged out by Tadej Pogačar on stage five of the Tour de France, then finishing just off the podium in the TT on the penultimate day of the race.

Another disappointment has now followed in Tokyo, yet Küng believes his ride was good enough to get him on the podium.

“I delivered a top performance. It was truly medal-worthy. If you organize the time trial correctly, you will feel that you are not at your limit. Although I was, of course," Küng said.

"There are still three years until the next Olympic Games in Paris. And the Olympics remain the Olympics," Küng continued. "I'm not going to give up yet."