(sda) Five years after the fabulous departure of Fabian Cancellara, who retired in Rio with the second Olympic time trial victory after 2008, another professional cyclist from Ittigen near Bern is dreaming of an Olympic medal with Marc Hirschi. By winning the world championship bronze last autumn in Imola, the former U23 world champion has already proven that he can withstand the pressure of the elite at major events.
For Hirschi, however, the signs are no longer the same. After his late move to the UAE Emirates team, the newcomer struggled last season with material and health problems. The 22-year-old from Bern cannot boast comparable successes as last year, when he triumphed in the semi-classic Flèche Wallone in addition to a stage win at the Tour de France and came second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2021. This is also due to the fact that he no longer has the same freedoms.
During the past three weeks, Hirschi has been fully committed to Tadej Pogacar on the Tour of France to help the Slovenian successfully defend his title. It will be interesting to see how fresh the Swiss is after the recent exertions, especially since he suffered a painful shoulder injury in a fall in the first stage.
Hirschi hardly has any time to breathe, because there are only five days between the end of the Tour de France and the Olympic road race. The 234 km long course with the start on the outskirts of Tokyo and the finish at Fuji International Speedway, the motorsport course in Oyama at the foot of Mount Fuji, will demand everything from the drivers. A total of 4865 vertical meters have to be mastered, that’s around a quarter more than in 2016 in Rio and about the same as in the 2020 World Cup race in Imola – Hirschi accommodated that there.
As a team leader with the Swiss cross on his jersey, Hirschi can count on the support of veteran Michael Schär, European time trial champion Stefan Küng and the climbing-proven Gino Mäder. The maximum contingent of five drivers can only be provided by six nations, among them the Belgians with Greg van Avermaet, the Olympic champion from Rio.
With Stefan Küng, a Swiss is also one of the favorites in the time trial, which is held just four days after the road race. The 27-year-old from Thurgau has recently shown consistently strong performances in his specialty that he can be reckoned with. The victory in the opening time trial at the Tour de Suisse was followed by a 2nd place in the first of two tests against the clock at the Tour de France.
However, circumstances in Japan will be different not only because of the tropical heat. The Olympic time trial at the foot of Mount Fuji is a bit longer, and it is also much more couped. There is a constant up and down on the 44.2 km, but a really steep ascent is missing. Nevertheless, the topographical difficulties with a total of 846 meters of altitude do not correspond to Küng’s taste. The European time trial champion, known as a strong scooter, has recently proven several times that he can get over the mountains well.
However, Küng’s competition in the fight for a medal will be fierce, and the list of drivers vying to succeed Fabian Cancellara is long. With the Australian Rohan Dennis, the Italian Filippo Ganna and the Dutch Tom Dumoulin, there are three world champions in this field.
Thanks to Marlen Reusser, Switzerland can justifiably hope for a medal among women. The Bernese is a late bloomer. When the last summer games took place in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, Reusser had not yet contested a single bike race. Not to mention she was a professional athlete.
The then 25-year-old from Hindelbank only got her first bike license in 2017. At the end of June, Reusser duped the entire national competition at the Swiss time trial championships. Six weeks later, however, she paid tuition fees at the European Championships in Denmark as 28th out of 31 participants.
But Reusser, who practiced as a surgical assistant doctor in parallel to her sporting career in 2018, has improved from year to year since then. Last season it paid off internationally for the first time in the form of medals: at the European Championships in Plouay, the Bernese woman finished third, at the World Championships in Imola she even came second. Gold was secured by Anna van der Breggen from the Netherlands in both races.
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