Having finished third at Paris-Roubaix in 2022, it looked like Stefan Küng could have been in contention for another podium finish at the Hell of the North on Sunday, as he had made his way into an elite chasing group of five riders behind the sole leader Mathieu van der Poel following an attack by Mads Pedersen after the Mons-en-Pévèle cobbled sector.
They were joined by Nils Politt, Jasper Philipsen and Küng’s teammate Laurence Pithie, but the young Kiwi crashed out of the group with around 30km to go as they hit the Bourghelles à Wannehain sector.
This meant that Groupama-FDJ no longer possessed a numerical advantage in the front group, but they still had hope that Küng could pull off a result. However, he was then dropped on the Gruson cobbled sector with around 12km to go, as Philipsen put in an attack to whittle down the group.
Küng then managed to limit his losses until the finish, coming across the line just 15 seconds behind the chasing group in fifth place. Pithie finished seventh on the day, as he had been caught by Gianni Vermeersch after his crash and was outsprinted by the Belgian in the Roubaix Velodrome, as he clearly had nothing left in the tank.
Speaking to his team after the race, Küng explained why he was unable to hold on to the chasing group, as he said “I was completely empty in the end, I couldn’t follow anymore. It is a bit of a shame. It was a hard blow, but I told myself I hadn’t done all that for nothing. It’s certainly not a podium, but it’s still a top-5 and I gave my best”.
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