Digital Swiss 5: Küng solos to victory

Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) took a resounding victory on day two of the Digital Swiss 5 with Filippo Ganna (Team Ineos) and Michael Matthews (Sunweb Team) taking third.

Kung was in almost complete control over the four laps of an undulating 11.5km circuit. In a similar performance to Rohan Dennis (Team Ineos) on Wednesday, Kung hit out and reached the front after the opening few kilometres. From there the time triallist powered his way clear of the rest of the online field.

Hitting almost 9 w/kg, Kung was in a league of his own, while the chasers swapped positions on a regular basis. Matthews and Van Avermaet – the latter who won the virtual Tour of Flanders a few weeks ago – were the closest to Kung’s back wheel but Ganna timed his charge well and came through the opposition inside of the opening 10 kilometres. From there, the race settled into a familiar patter with Kung tapping out an unmatchable wattage while his rivals struggled to get on terms.

Ganna, another powerhouse against the clock, moved clear of Matthews and Van Avermaet but was unable to gain any ground on the Groupama leader.

At the finish Kung had plenty of time to sit up and celebrate, which he did in real life, while his avatar – a far cooler and more collected character - kept his emotions in check and simply ground to a halt. Ganna crossed the line in second place, 47 seconds down, while there was more of a battle between Matthews and Van Avermaet with the pair coming into the final few hundred meters side-by-side. With no drafting element on this particular platform the sprint came down to pure power and it was the Australian who kicked for the line to take the final podium place at 1:18 down on Kung.

The race series continues on Friday.