The reigning Britain time trial Josh Tarling, just 20 years old, was not afraid of saying that he was going for gold in his first Olympic outing of his career before bad luck in the shape of a front-wheel puncture deflated his hopes.
After getting a bike change in the opening phase, Tarling regrouped and finished in fourth place, 27 seconds off the pace of winner Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) in the men’s time trial at the Paris Olympic Games. He was only two seconds off the podium and the bronze medal won by Wout van Aert (Belgium).
“No idea,” replied Tarling when asked how much time he had lost. “I think it was hard to get back into the rhythm and settle down and stop thinking after that and everyone else did such a good ride. It would have been hard to catch back up.”
He was not willing to look into the hypothetical case that he might have won if not for the puncture, congratulating those who had claimed medals, including trade Ineos Grenadiers teammate Filippo Ganna.
“Nah, I think everyone who's got a medal deserves it. I mean, if I wanted it to go my way, I would have gone fast enough after the puncture and still won," said Tarling.
Riders faced wet and slippery roads on the out-and-back technical 32.4km course in Paris. The 30th rider out of 34 to leave the start ramp at Les Invalides, Tarling was on a good pace until he had to stop to get a bike change, and then had to contend with the mental pressure and the wet conditions.
“Just hit some bumps and felt the rim and had to change before the corner,” he explained.
“It's easy to start flapping about and panicking. I think the car did a really good job of keeping me quiet and chilled out and just settled back into it.
“They [the conditions] were tough. I think I couldn't see a lot with the visor after I stopped, all steamed up, and then it wouldn't un-steam then, so I had to get rid of that.”
Tarling was 13 seconds off the pace by the first intermediate time check and continued to lose more time until he crossed the line in a time of 36:39, one of four riders to break the 37-minute mark.
He was not surprised to see world champion Evenepoel take the win, even if the Belgian had stated a few days ago that he couldn’t get out of bed.
“I wouldn’t blame him. He did an amazing Tour. I was expecting it, he’s such a classy rider, and he’s no one can get close to him at the minute," said Tarling.
The next focus is the men’s road race, a 273km loop on Saturday, August 3.
“Switch off tonight and switch back on as soon as we can to the road race to try and forget today.”
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