The Groupama-FDJ cycling team took its first win of the 2023 season on Sunday, and it came thanks to its Swiss rider Stefan Küng on the roads of the Volta ao Algarve. On the fifth and final stage of the Portuguese race, a 24.4-kilometre time trial, the vice-world champion proved superior to some of the best time trialists of the bunch, including Filippo Ganna and Tobias Foss, to snatch the stage victory just like in 2019. He took advantage of this superb performance to move up to fifth position overall. The Lusitanian week did end in style.
A time trial well-known by the riders was set to put an end to the 2023 Volta ao Algarve this Sunday. Around Lagoa and over twenty-four kilometres, the event kind of returned to its traditional course. Stefan Küng was also on familiar ground since he took the victory on these roads in 2019 and grabbed third place both in 2018 and 2020. A lot was therefore expected from the Swiss man. “Stefan knew the route, but he still went to do a recon on Tuesday first, and again this morning”, explained Frédéric Guesdon. “I really like this route because there are many rhythm changes, and you have to push all the time”, also said Stefan. On the other hand, his teammate Valentin Madouas was unable to start this last stage due to illness. Before Stefan Küng got underway at 3:48 p.m., Lewis Askey, Paul Penhoët, Jake Stewart, Miles Scotson and Olivier Le Gac all covered the course as well as they could. When the World Championships’ runner up then left the launch pad, the provisional best time belonged to Rémi Cavagna. Stefan Küng beat him by four seconds on the first time check, was beaten by three seconds on the second one, and the power struggle eventually turned to his advantage over the last kilometres, as the Swiss rider crossed the finish line in 29’34, meaning four seconds faster than his French competitor. “At the second time check, we thought Stefan was starting to struggle, but he bounced back, and he then had to ride at 60 km/h over the last three kilometres, which was doable”, added Frédéric. “It was really tight. Also, Cavagna is a good time trialist, but we thought better ones were still to come…”
“We couldn’t have hoped for more“, Frédéric Guesdon
A first fight was won at that point, but many competitors, and not the least, took the start while Stefan Küng settled into the “hot seat”. Yet, one after the other, Filippo Ganna, Tobias Foss, or even Dani Martinez, did not manage to match the marks of “King Küng”. The reigning world champion lost 29 seconds, the Italian finished ten seconds behind, and the Colombian, although becoming the overall winner, was beaten by sixteen seconds. The last men on the road did not threaten the Groupama-FDJ rider, who was thus able to celebrate his victory after about half an hour of waiting. “It’s really nice”, he commented shortly after the official end of the stage. “I knew this course suited me, I felt good, I had power until the end, but I also knew it was going to be close. It’s really great to take the victory, which is also the first for our team this season. It was tricky because it was my first time trial of the season with a new position. We worked a lot on it during the winter after the UCI’s rules changed, so I want to say a big thank you to the performance department and to my mechanic. Without the team, it wouldn’t have been possible to win here, and it’s great to have a first payback”. “It’s good to finish with a victory, which was far from granted because there was a great line-up of specialists,” added Frédéric. “There was the European champion, the world champion, Filippo Ganna… The victory means even more because of it, and it proves once again that Stefan deserves to be world champion one day”.
Thanks to this first win of the season, Stefan Küng also climbed thirteen places in the general rankings (!), thus finishing the event in fifth place, two positions higher than in 2022. “It’s always nice to do a good overall result in Algarve to start the season, and overall, it was good preparation for the classics”, added Stefan. “I definitely feel more ready for the Classics today than I did before the race”. With six top-10s and one win, a successful week of racing comes to an end for the Groupama-FDJ cycling team. “We were a bit disappointed yesterday, but in the end, it turned out well today”, concluded Frédéric. “We couldn’t have hoped for more. It shows that the guys have worked well, and it bodes well for the future. We are ready but everyone is ready, so we must not rest on our laurels. We have to continue like this and stay calm”.
