For the next three weeks, Stefan Küng will be fully focussed on the Tour de France and his Groupama-FDJ team goals of helping David Gaudu improve on his fourth place on last year’s GC by at least one slot.
But at the same time, at the back of his mind, will be the upcoming World Time Trial Championships in Glasgow, where Küng, too, hopes to move up a place - compared to last year’s result of silver in Australia, and where he fell just three seconds short of taking gold.
“It’s definitely a tiny part of the reason why I’m racing here,” Küng told a small group of reporters on the Friday before the Tour de France started in Bilbao.
“A three-week race is normally the best preparation for the Worlds, and the timing this year of the Tour works out quite well. There’s a little bit more than two and a half weeks between the end of the Worlds and the start of the Tour, so that’s ideal.”
The downside of this year's Tour route is that, unlike the 2023 Giro with its three time trials, the Tour only has one, and it's mostly uphill. As Küng said, "It's not really a TT that suits my abilities, so I can't use it as a test.
"But nevertheless, riding here will give me the base condition I need and then with some specific TT work, I'll be as ready as I can be."
Küng was present at the Tour de Suisse this year and he recognised that, given what happened there, it had been far from straightforward to get to the Tour on an even keel emotionally and mentally.
"Physically I'm doing OK, and I had that confirmation at the Swiss Nationals" - taking fifth - "but things were complicated after Suisse mentally. I need some days to get over everything."
"At the same time, there's no time trial in the first week or opening TT, so in other Tours I would be more stressed than before the start of the race."
Asked how he was coping with his emotions at this point, Küng said that "Normally after the Tour de Suisse, you're in a good place, but after what happened, I quit and then took some time with the family.
"Then we had the Gino Memorial on Saturday and that made you reflect again. You know you have to continue, but each time you ask yourself questions, you realise again how much it's not going to be ok just like that."
"So it's all been there with me for the last two weeks, and it'll be with me again throughout all these next three. Even so, when the course begins, that's good, we'll be more concentrated on the Tour and it's good that things get underway, we'll be in the usual race routine for riders."
But although he recognised it was very hard for him after the events of June 16th, Küng said that the death of Mäder was not going to affect the way he raced.
"Not at all. What happened was so tragic and I'm still not over it, but despite the dangers, I would still sign to do what I do and I think Gino would have done the same. At the end of the day, it's our passion, it's our life."
"Everything in life has certain risks and you can't think about that, above all on the bike. From the moment you start thinking that you're going to crash, you start wondering about if the risks are too great or not, you've already lost."
"You have to stay concentrated 100% on the race."
Team goals - and two Swiss riders
With that in mind, looking at the Tour course, Küng says he will be fully focussed on working for Gaudu and give his maximum for the Frenchman to be on the podium.
“I’m going to do my part for the team. Then in the second and third week, there will be opportunities [for breaks] and if one comes up, I’ll take it. But even if it’s not as simple as a time trial where I know that if I’m in good shape, I could go for a win, it’s a stage of the Tour de France all the same.”
One of two Swiss riders in the Tour this year, together with Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Sylvan Dillier, the lowest total in a long time, Küng’s thoughts were simple when questioned about this: “yes, I have just one comment - there should have been three, and there are just two.”
“Gino should have been here at the start, he’s not here, sadly, so as for what that means for the race - well, voila, that’s how it is.”
“As for what it means for me, if I am, in inverted commas, ‘only’ one of two Swiss riders in the race, that doesn’t mean anything, because I’m here to do my very best and I’m going to do that.”
