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."
1 KΓΌng 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
