Josh Tarling rued the mechanical misfortune which cost him an Olympic medal after finishing an agonising fourth in the men’s time trial.

The 20-year-old west Walian had been tipped in some quarters to end Team GB’s opening day gold drought which stretches back to Sydney 2000.

But a puncture early on in soaking conditions proved fatal as Tarling, despite battling admirably to stay in contention, finished an agonising 2.16 seconds adrift of a podium place.

The Aberaeron native refused to indulge in speculation as to how much time the change of bike cost him but could not hide his inevitable disappointment.

“It happens, doesn’t it,” he said. “There’s not a lot I can do.

“It was hard to settle back down into a rhythm and stop thinking (about it) after that.

“It’s easy to start flapping about and panicking but the car did a really good job of keeping me quiet and chilled out, I settled back into it.

“Everyone who got a medal deserves it. If I wanted it to go my way, I would have gone fast enough without a puncture to still win.

“They all put the pressure on and there wasn’t a lot I could do.”

Tarling can perhaps take some consolation from the identity of the three men who finished ahead of him in a field stacked with quality.

Serial world champions Filippo Ganna and Wout van Aert claimed silver and bronze behind Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, fresh from an impressive maiden Tour de France.

Evenepoel, 24, slammed the condition of the roads used in the time trial after a practice ride earlier this week and claimed he spent ‘all of Monday in bed’ as he recovered from his Tour exertions.

“I wouldn’t blame him, to be honest,” Tarling said. “He had an amazing Tour.

“I was expecting it from him, he’s such a classy rider and no-one can get close to him at the minute.”

Tarling is not a man used to missing out on silverware in his fledgling career so far but his best years remain very much ahead of him.

Now based in Andorra, he may yet still leave Paris with a medal if he can bounce back in next Saturday’s road race.

“I’ll switch off tonight and switch back on as soon as I can,” he said.

“I’ll try and forget it but I’ll watch it back as a fan. They all did amazing rides and it was good to watch.”

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