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Five weeks on from scoring time trial bronze at his elite men’s UCI Road World Championships bow, Great Britain’s Josh Tarling blew away the competition at the UEC Road European Championships time trial, taking gold with a stunning ride in Emmen.
The 19-year-old neo-pro was quickest at every point along the course, flying through the second checkpoint 29 seconds up on second place before crossing the line with a time of 31:30 and an average speed of 56.762 kph.
He beat Stefan Bissegger into second place, the Swiss rider coming home 42 seconds down at 32:12. Belgium’s Wout van Aert took the bronze medal fractions of a second down on Bissegger, with a time of 32:13, while Stefan Küng – who had been neck-and-neck with Van Aert at the second checkpoint – finished 11th after falling out of contention with a heavy crash late on.
“It was hard,” Tarling said after the finish. “I felt weaker today than I did in the Worlds. And the wind was really hard. Originally, it was a lot of over and under with the crosswind, but it changed to a more steady crosswind both ways and no headwind or tailwind.
“It was just about holding a high power all day. It was really hard, yeah. I have CRO Race, and then I do Chrono des Nations with my brother [Finlay],” he added, mapping out his final races of the 2023 season.
Tarling, who is already British time trial champion, having beaten Fred Wright by 1:03 in Yorkshire in June, will now be able to wear the blue-striped white jersey of European champion at time trials throughout the upcoming season – starting at the Chrono des Nations.
His win is the third of his pro career on his 47th race day, with the stage 2 time trial at last month’s Renewi Tour his first at the WorldTour level after stepping up straight from…
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