"That was grim" - In first ITT since knee break Joshua Tarling takes 2nd behind Remco Evenepoel at Criterium du Dauphine

Despite a massively impressive effort on the stage 4 individual time-trial at the 2024 Criterium du Dauphine, INEOS Grenadiers' European champion Joshua Tarling was forced to settle for second behind Remco Evenepoel.

"That was grim. It felt slow," assessed the 20-year-old Welshman in his post-stage interview, having sat in the hot seat for almost the entire day before Evenepoel clocked a time 17 seconds quicker than his own. "It's that tarmac that is quite grippy so yeah, it felt really hard to get the speed up, especially over the tops of the climbs. But I think I did a decent enough ride."

Having burst onto the scene with a podium at the Glasgow World Championships against the clock in 2023, Tarling has since become European champion and continued to prove himself as one of the strongest riders in the world in the discipline. This latest result was made even more impressive by the struggles the young Brit has had over the last few months.

As detailed by Tarling's father, Michael on X (Twitter), the 20-year-old broke a bone in his knee on the 7th of April and only returned to some tentative training on the 9th of May. Less than a month later, the INEOS Grenadiers prodigy is already back mixing it up with the likes of Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic at the Criterium du Dauphine.

"I took the first bit for free, then just sort of whacked it for the climbs," Tarling recaps of his efforts, explaining his strategy on the day. "There was a climb with 4km to go and that was the finish, because it's then just downhill and a couple of small kickers. Because it was so open out, I couldn't hold the same speed so I basically knew what I wanted to do for each sector and if I saw I was lower, I'd squeeze it. If I was above it, I'd ease off a bit. It was just about not showing off at the start and letting everything out because it's so much longer than you think."