Time trials can be brutal, and after finishing fourth, Britain's Josh Tarling was brutally honest about his performance in Zurich, his problems after the Paris Olympics, and his mistakes in recent weeks as he tried to overcome perhaps the most difficult moment of his young racing career.

The 20-year-old Welshman won the European title in 2023 and was third at the Glasgow World Championships, 48 seconds slower than Remco Evenpole (Belgium). He was fourth at this year's road world championships, but 1:17 slower than the Belgian.

Turling beat Stefan Küng (Switzerland), Brandon McNulty (USA), and Primoš Roglic (Slovenia) in Zurich, but that was little consolation.

“I'm disappointed, but honestly, it's a result of all the effort I put in. But honestly, it's a result of my effort.” After the race, Tarling candidly admitted to Cyclingnews and Flobikes that he had made a mistake.

Tarling finished fourth in the Paris Olympics time trial, just two seconds behind bronze medalist Wout Van Aert (Belgium), despite suffering a flat tire on a wet Paris road. He almost cried and admitted that he was struggling after the Games, saying it would be wrong to blame himself for suffering from post-Olympic decompression.

“Everything went wrong after the Olympics. It's no one's fault. I just went a little deep and got confused,” Tarling said.

“I really didn't know how to deal with that.

“It was the first time I had made a big sacrifice for things and it didn't go as planned, and it cracked me up a little bit. I pushed everyone away. But in hindsight, I needed everyone, not the other way around.”

Tarling turned pro with the Ineos Grenadiers in 2023 at the age of just 19. He quickly showed his talent, winning the European title, the British Time Trial title, and two other time trials.

This year he impressed again and again, winning the British title. But with the Olympics being his main goal, how did he assess his second season?

“There were times when I was much better than last year and I was able to make progress. But at the end of the season we regressed. Yes, there were some ups and downs,” Tarling said of the 2024 season.

The season, and especially the last few weeks, was a painful learning process.

“Honestly, I'm sick of learning. Next year,” Tarling concluded.

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