{"id":438492,"date":"2026-01-28T11:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T11:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438492\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T11:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T11:12:08","slug":"that-day-can-come-stefan-kung-believes-the-day-he-can-beat-pogacar-and-van-der-poel-may-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438492\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThat day can come\u201d &#8211; Stefan Kung believes the day he can beat Pogacar and van der Poel may come"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Although joining Tudor may look logical given his nationality, K\u00fcng made clear that wasn\u2019t decisive. \u201cBeing a Swiss team wasn\u2019t on my list of pros and cons. There are nine Swiss riders, but it\u2019s a very international squad and, above all, very ambitious. It\u2019s young, with positive momentum and everyone looking up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TT cornerstone<\/p>\n<p>A specialist against the clock, K\u00fcng has a key role in Tudor\u2019s technical development, working closely with sponsors such as BMC and Sportful to optimise time trial equipment. His wind-tunnel experience will also be crucial for teammates like Michael Storer, focused on the Giro d\u2019Italia GC, and for the team in targets such as the Tour de France\u2019s opening team time trial in Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goal is the process,\u201d K\u00fcng summed up. \u201cIf we make the Top 5 in the Tour\u2019s time trial, it would be a big success. Then you can aim for the Top 3 and keep growing. If you turn a race into a project, the outcome is never a failure: it\u2019s the process that makes you learn and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>K\u00fcng is the leader Tudor lacked for the 2025 Classics. He will share responsibility with riders such as Matteo Trentin, new signing Luca Mozzato, Marco Haller, and Marius Mayrhofer; allowing Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi to focus on the Ardennes.<\/p>\n<p>Though Tudor is a ProTeam, it has automatic invitations to all WorldTour events in 2026 and plans to race all three Grand Tours and the major Classics. K\u00fcng will return to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad at the end of February and, after an altitude camp, tackle a demanding cobbled block in April.<\/p>\n<p>His recent record backs that ambition: six Top 10s in cobbled Monuments over the past four years, including third at Paris\u2013Roubaix 2022 and two further Top 5s on the pav\u00e9 of northern France.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/kung-6978d6bc77c8b.jpg@webp.webp\" class=\"w-auto h-auto\" alt=\"K\u00fcng, in the Groupama - FDJ jersey\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Stefan K\u00fcng is one of the best classics riders in the world<\/p>\n<p>Belief against the dominant forcesDespite the dominance of riders like Pogacar and <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/mathieu-van-der-poel\" title=\"Mathieu van der Poel\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>, K\u00fcng\u2019s belief in his chances remains intact. \u201cMaybe results-wise it wasn\u2019t my best Classics campaign in 2025, but at Omloop I was closer than ever and they caught me under the flamme rouge,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe odds are against me: nine times out of ten Tadej and Mathieu will be better, but I believe that day, that one time, can come. In the Classics you never know how the race will unfold. That\u2019s what makes them so special. You just need one opportunity and it can change your career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The presence of Pogacar and Van der Poel has reshaped the Classics, just as aerodynamics, performance, and nutrition have transformed cycling. K\u00fcng believes that evolution suits him: \u201cIf you look at average speeds compared to ten years ago, we\u2019re two or three kilometers per hour faster. It\u2019s the result of equipment, rider level, altitude training, and nutrition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Swiss reflects on how habits have changed: \u201cWhen I turned pro, carbohydrates were the enemy. Today it\u2019s the opposite: you eat as many as you can.\u201d That advance has made the Classics harder, with racing kicking off more than 150 kilometres from the line. \u201cIt makes them more intense, but it also suits me when the race is hard from far out and it all comes down to endurance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Pogacar and Van der Poel can strike decisive blows on iconic ramps such as the Oude Kwaremont or Carrefour de l\u2019Arbre, K\u00fcng trusts his ability to absorb damage beforehand. \u201cMaybe I tire a little less than others. I\u2019m better when the race is hard from afar. After the seventh or eighth big acceleration I can still go. Cycling\u2019s evolution has worked in my favour,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; Although joining Tudor may look logical given his nationality, K\u00fcng made clear that wasn\u2019t decisive. \u201cBeing a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,13633,82,129810,1422,127753],"class_list":{"0":"post-438492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-stefan-kung","14":"tag-tadej-pogacar","15":"tag-tudor-pro-cycling-team"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}