Rain hinders Stefan Küng from success at Giro d'Italia: "It's the story of my life"

Stefan Küng was in the hot seat for a good while during the second individual time trial of 2023 Giro d'Italia, but ultimately did not win. He ended up fourth in four seconds. Just not so for the Swiss.

"What can I say? It's the story of my life," he told Eurosport afterwards. The Swiss rider was one of the big favourites to take the win on a more suiting day. He finished fourth in the day, however just a few seconds behind the three GC contenders who finished ahead. Another hit that is hard to take for Küng, who has already over the last few years switched focus to the cobbled classics in search of success elsewhere.

“I'm always just off the mark,” Küng continued. “It dried up a bit for the GC favourites, that definitely helped them. But it's an outdoor sport, so I can't use that as an excuse. It wasn't enough, again. Very frustrating. It's always so close. I can't say more...”

Last year, Küng finished second at both the European Time Trial Championships and the World Championships Time Trial. At the European Championship he conceded one second to his compatriot Stefan Bissegger, at the World Cup he was three seconds short of the Norwegian Tobias Foss. Küng was also second twice in a time trial of the Tour de France (2017 and 2021).