“A great way to finish the season” – Joshua Tarling back to his best with convincing Chrono des Nations victory
Cycling
After a struggle for consistent form this year, Joshua Tarling closed his 2025 campaign with a performance of reassurance and authority at the Chrono des Nations, storming to victory ahead of Jay Vine and Stefan Kung to underline once again why he is regarded as one of cycling’s top time trial specialists.
The Brit stopped the clock in 51 minutes and 12 seconds, averaging 52.6 km/h over the 45-kilometre course around Les Herbiers. It was his third win of the season, following earlier triumphs in the UAE Tour and Giro d’Italia time trials, and came after what he himself admitted had been “a difficult few months”.
“I’m really, really happy,” Tarling said after the finish. “It’s a great way to finish the season. Everything went exactly as we’d hoped. I wasn’t sure what shape I was in because I didn’t feel great at the European Championships, but it was a nice surprise to see the result today. To have my name on the honours list of this race, alongside so many great riders, feels really special.”
Tarling dominant once again
From the first time check, the INEOS Grenadiers rider was in command. He led through every intermediate split, with only Vine and Mikkel Bjerg managing to stay within a minute of his pace. By the second checkpoint, Tarling’s advantage had already stretched beyond 40 seconds — a gap he maintained despite deteriorating conditions in the closing kilometres.
The win brought to an end Stefan Kung’s reign at the Chrono des Nations and reaffirmed Tarling’s position among the discipline’s elite. The 21-year-old has now added his name for the second time, to a roll of honour that includes Tony Martin, Filippo Ganna, and Remco Evenepoel, while also becoming the youngest rider ever to win the event twice.
Tarling in action
Redemption after a rough patch
Tarling’s victory also marked a timely return to form after a rare off-day at the European Championships, where he finished outside the medals and later admitted to feeling below par. In Les Herbiers, however, there were no signs of fatigue or uncertainty — just the same smooth, powerful rhythm that has defined his meteoric rise since turning professional.
“It’s a great way to end the year,” Tarling said. “After the summer I wasn’t sure how the last races would go, but the sensations were good and the team helped me to prepare perfectly. It’s been a long season, but I’m proud of what we achieved.”
At just 21, Tarling already boasts time trial victories in WorldTour races, Grand Tours, and now a second Chrono des Nations crown — achievements that place him firmly among Britain’s next generation of major stage race contenders.
As he signed off with another commanding win in France, Tarling’s message was clear: the early struggles of 2025 are behind him — and the future looks faster than ever.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- What a travesty ! That little deviation did nothing to impede Brand !frieders307-11-2026
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