A job well done. We were rolling over sixty

Are you satisfied? We pulled off a great ride. I reckoned we could make top five. In the morning we went through the course and we expected that it was going to be very fast and the time gaps would be very small but nobody guessed that it would be that fast. We were rolling over sixty in the second half of the time trial. How do you assess your team performance? We distributed our strength sensibly in the first half. Then we just lost some time in the other half but it is no big deal. We were riding in eight men so we felt that our tank was getting emptier. All in all, we showed a well-balanced performance, which was crucial. How did you feel? I liked the course and felt really good. Toward the end everyone was on his limit because riding at such a high speed made it difficult to recover in the slipstream. The right aerodynamics was important and I just pushed on and on. It was a great spectacle because in such a short team time trial you can ride really fast. Were you affected by the fact that Noval was dropped so early? It is never a boost for your confidence when somebody gets dropped. If he had stayed with us he could have done a couple of solid turns but I don’t think we were unsettled or affected by it. What does the outcome of this time trial say about the future progress of the race? We came out with good feelings about it but the Tour has only begun and this was only a small part of it. We have to give our best every day. Were you surprised by the Orica-GreenEdge triumph? Not so much. Their team consists of leadout men and sprinters so this time trial was tailor-made for them.