After years of close calls and near misses, Stefan Kung has finally secured himself a Grand Tour stage win, ending the 2024 Vuelta a Espana in perfect fashion with a dominant performance against the clock on stage 21 in Madrid.
"I had to win here," admitted the former European time trial champion in his post-stage interview having survived the threat of overall winner Primoz Roglic in the final stage time trial. "I knew I had to be fast and that I had to ride under 27 minutes."
To make this victory even sweeter for the Swiss time trial specialist, Kung has suffered a somewhat disappointing campaign so far in 2024. "I was bungling all summer. Before the Tour de Suisse I got sick during my altitude training. Then I had to give up the Tour due to illness and I was also sick during the Olympic Games," he admits. "I wanted to feel good again during a race and I managed that in the Vuelta. I knew I had to watch my weight after the Tour, because it was a Vuelta with a lot of mountains. Fortunately, that worked out, so I felt good."
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Primoz Roglic wins the 2024 Vuelta a Espana! Slovenian secures record equalling 4th Red Jersey as Stefan Küng takes first ever Grand Tour stage win in final ITT
2024 Vuelta a Espana final GC Standings: Primoz Roglic takes red again as Ben O'Connor & Enric Mas complete podium in Madrid
Results | Stage 21 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana:
1 | Küng Stefan | Groupama-FDJ | 180 | 00:26:28 |
2 | Roglic Primoz | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | 130 | + 31 |
3 | Cattaneo Mattia | Soudal Quick-Step | 95 | + 42 |
4 | Baroncini Filippo | UAE Team Emirates | 80 | + 43 |
5 | Schmid Mauro | Team Jayco-AlUla | 60 | + 46 |
6 | Vacek Mathias | Lidl-Trek | 45 | + 52 |
7 | Campenaerts Victor | Lotto Dstny | 40 | + 54 |
8 | Skjelmose Mattias | Lidl-Trek | 35 | + 01:02 |
9 | Sweeny Harry | EF Education-EasyPost | 30 | + 01:03 |
10 | Armirail Bruno | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 25 | + 01:03 |
11 | O'Connor Ben | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 20 | + 01:05 |
12 | Affini Edoardo | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 15 | + 01:06 |
13 | Frigo Marco | Israel-Premier Tech | 10 | + 01:07 |
14 | Lipowitz Florian | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | 5 | + 01:10 |
15 | del Toro Isaac | UAE Team Emirates | 2 | + 01:12 |
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