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

The world and European champions miss out by a matter of seconds over 44km course

Stefan Küng
(Image credit: Getty)

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.

>>> Geraint Thomas says he 'just needs to stay positive and try to keep going' after Olympic time trial

“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."

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Hi. I'm Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor. I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.


Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).


I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.