Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) won the 2022 Chrono des Nations, getting his revenge on Tobias Foss (Jumbo-Visma) after missing out to the Norwegian at the World Championships last month.
Foss was the surprise winner at Worlds in Australia and debuted his rainbow skinsuit at the specialist time trial event in France on Sunday.
But he was unable to land his first victory as the time trial world champion, missing out to Kung by a slim two-second margin.
Matteo Sobrero (BikeExchange-Jayco) rounded out the podium.
Kung, who was devastated after beating his major rivals at Worlds but seeing Foss – who he admitted he hadn’t factored into the favourites’ equation – pip him to the gold medal by three seconds.
The Chrono des Nations does not compare but Kung at least finished his season on a high, winning the event for the second time in a row.
The Swiss rouleur set a time of 53:29 on the largely flat 45.4-kilometre course. Foss had set the fastest time at the mid-race intermediate checkpoint but Kung finished strongly. The last rider on the road, he sprinted out of the saddle in the home straight as the clocked ticked in dramatic fashion, crossing the line two seconds to the good.
Sobrero rounded out the podium at 11 seconds, with two-time winner Martin Toft Madsen (BHS-PL Belton Bornholm) fourth ahead of Frenchmen Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) and Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
European champion Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) could only manage seventh place at 1:04.
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