An agonising puncture robbed Aberaeron Team GB cycling star Josh Tarling of an Olympic medal at Paris 2024.

The 20-year-old Welsh biker was going for gold in his first Olympic outing when a brutal front-wheel puncture early on had him ‘swearing a lot’ and cost him 15 to 20 seconds. Having to change his bike disrupted his pace and created a mental hurdle to conquer.

Showcasing resilience and determination, Josh Tarling still made a strong impression during his Olympic debut. At one point he was just two seconds behind the leading rider and his final time of 36:39.95 demonstrates his potential on the international stage.

Heavy rain made for dangerous riding conditions, but despite the early setback, Josh Tarling navigated the course commendably and made up plenty of time - just not enough to earn him a medal.

“It just sucks, you know, a lot of effort in. It happens,” said Tarling, who came in fourth place, the top four all finishing within 28 seconds of each other.

The medallists were Remco Evenpoel, winning gold for Belgium, Filippo Ganna gaining silver for Italy and Wout van Aert, also from Belgium, claiming the bronze.

“Everyone who got a medal deserves it,” said the Welshman stoically. Now he’s looking ahead to the road race this coming weekend.

Josh Tarling grew up in Aberaeron - and he loved it, but there weren’t a lot of cycling opportunities in West Wales then. Describing himself as a full-time cyclist from the age of 10, he tells how his family would drive him up and down the country, and sometimes overseas, so he could test himself at everything and against everyone.

Although he loved racing against other people, he found his niche in racing against the clock. When he was only 12, he rode a 100-mile time trial in four hours, 49 minutes, and since then he has never looked back, from winning junior European titles to becoming junior world champion in Wollongong in 2022 and winning a senior bronze medal at the world championships in Glasgow last year.

He had been sharpening up those final few bits of performance ready for Paris, only to miss out on an Olympic bronze medal in the men’s individual time trial by just 2.16 seconds.

“Two seconds and it was that puncture, but that is cycling,” Commonwealth cycling bronze-medallist Hayley Simmonds said in a comment to the BBC. “You have 32.5km of road and you could hit a tiny bit of glass that is on the road from one of the cafés or the bars, and that is it.”

“We move on to the road race now. I’m going to keep trying my best and we will see,” added Tarling.