"Everyone was devastated. I couldn't do anything anymore" - Stefan Küng races to fifth, but realistic that victory wasn't likely

Stefan Küng raced a perfect Paris-Roubaix. He couldn't finish on the podium as in 2022, but he rode home to a strong fifth place, as he reports he could not do more after the fastest ever edition of the Hell of the North.

“From Wallers (where Wout van Aert initially attacked, ed.) it was a full throttle course, a hundred kilometers long. It was extremely heavy. You saw it at the end, everyone was devastated. I couldn't do anything anymore, so chapeau to the winner," Küng told reporters at the finish. One of the many riders who went beyond their limits, the Swiss rider was one of the few who could follow the initial attacks, putting himself in a position where he could fight for his first monument win.

He had a strong race all the way into the finale, but didn't have the necessary punch anymore in the final kilometers as did the likes of van der Poel and van Aert. Küng was dropped at Carrefour de l'Arbre but worked together with Filippo Ganna to stay within contention of the front. He then saw Wout van Aert puncture, and attack once again after joining them.

“If you see how Wout comes back after his flat tire, then that is just a level higher. And if Mathieu is good, he keeps going, going, going. It was what we expected, but you have to have the legs to follow. I didn't have it at the end," Küng admits. At the end he still sprinted to a fifth place, a strong conclusion for another consistent and very impressive spring for the leader of Groupama-FDJ. "In the end, the strongest won," he concluded.