Johan Esteban Chaves was the biggest loser among the GC riders in the Vuelta a Espana time trial as he lost 5.45 to stage winner Tony Martin. Admitting that the Colombian did worse than expected, his Orica-GreenEDGE team makes it clear that they always regarded this stage as the most difficult hurdle of the entire race.

Colombian Esteban Chaves has dropped to 18th overall at the Tour of Spain following stage ten this afternoon.

The 36.7km individual time trial was always earmarked as the toughest stage of the 2014 Vuelta a Espana for ORICA-GreenEDGE’s general classification objectives.

Chaves finished 156th, five minutes 45seconds down on world champion and stage winner Tony Martin (OPQ).

“We knew that this was going to be the hardest day of the Tour of Spain for us,” sport director Neil Stephens said.

“It was one that really went against all of Esteban’s best characteristics.

“But it is all part of the learning curve. He has been going a little bit better than what was expected up until now in the Tour of Spain. Today we maybe we lost a little bit more than expected but still along the lines of what we were hoping for.

“It’s a bit of a reminder that we have a bit of work to do, we are going to aspire for more things in this Tour of Spain and we will keep fighting for the future.”

Reveling in the support duties, Stephens reiterated that the team would continue to support Chaves into the second week.

“It’s going to be difficult job ahead of us with Esteban’s lack of racing over the last couple of years but we’re really enjoying working for the general classification,” he said.

“The riders and the staff, we are all part of this and we are part of this until the end.

“It’s why right from the start we didn’t want to quantify what the overall position we are going to go for is, we are just here to do the best job we can and we are really happy doing it.”

ORICA-GreenEDGE’s top finisher Brett Lancaster showed good form ahead of the world championships, riding conservatively into 61st position.

“Brett was basically doing a recon for Esteban,” Stephens said.

“He knew that if he rode really hard today that he wouldn’t be ready to work well for the team tomorrow.

“So the fact he is our best finisher and he rode within himself, that is a sign of good things to come for the world championships.”