Last year, New Zealander Josh Kench was racing in Asia for a third-division Chinese team, competing in races in Uzbekistan, Thailand and the UAE.
It's quite a contrast to stage 13 of the 2026 Giro d’Italia, where the Groupama-FDJ United rider was fighting for his first Grand Tour stage victory.
25-year-old Kench made it into the 15-rider breakaway on the stage between Alessandria and Verbania alongside two teammates, Axel Huens and Johan Jacobs. As the strongest climber in the French team, Kench’s colleagues rallied around him, leading him out on the final climb of Ungiasca.
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Kench launched 2.5km to go from the top of the climb, but, unfortunately for the Grand Tour debutant, he looked around to see the likes of Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Michael Valgren (EF Education First-EasyPost) and Alberto Bettiol (XDS-Astana) following his wheel tracks.
Bettiol went on to attack past Leknessund and take the stage win, while Kench was left disappointed with sixth place, 44 seconds behind the Italian.
“The team supported me completely. I guess I'm pretty disappointed right now because I let the boys down. But I've come from China last year, so I can be proud,” Kench told Cyclingnews and several other gathered media after the finish line.
Kench got his first big break in Europe with the New Zealand-registered Black Spoke team, for whom he raced between 2020 and 2023. After the team folded in his final year, Kench moved to race in China for a small Continental team, Tianyoude Hotel, in the 2024 season.
Last year, Kench moved to the biggest Continental team in China, Li-Ning Star, which is home to several former professionals, including Argentinian climber Eduardo Sepúlveda and Swiss rider Simon Pellaud.
His wins in the UAE and Uzbekistan – at the Tour of Sharjah and Tour of Bostonliq – were enough to prove to Groupama-FDJ United that he was worth another chance in Europe, and the team signed him for this year.
Kench was thankful for the significant work invested by his teammates during the 189km stage.
“I think they gave me the confidence to give it everything,” he said. “At least I can say I kind of did them proud and I gave it everything.”
With numbers up the road, the French team took on some level of responsibility in gatekeeping who was and who wasn’t able to attack from the breakaway, with particular attention given to the break’s stronger rouleurs and other star riders.
“They were all in for me. The whole day was to make sure no attacks went up the road beforehand. Obviously, there was the likes of Mikkel Bjerg who could maybe get up the road on the flat. So it was all about making sure we controlled it until the climb," Kenci said.
“Bettiol has won so many races. He's got an amazing palmarès. So he was the one to watch on the climb as well. But I guess our tactic was for me to go full gas and hope they dropped.”
Kench’s acceleration was strong, but having reflected on his performance, he realised that he went too early on the final climb, causing him to fade as Bettiol and others moved ahead.
“I think I probably could have waited another kilometre before the steep bit," Kench said.
"That was a bit of an error on my behalf, so I'm a bit disappointed on that. I think maybe it could have been a different outcome.”
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