With a team mainly composed of climbers, Tinkoff-Saxo had to incur a time loss of 1’30” on the 24.5km team time trial in Critérium du Dauphiné, which was won by BMC. With the pre-race ambition of finishing well in the GC with Robert Kiserlovski, the squad knew that the fight against the clock posed an obstacle. Team DS Patxi Vila now directs his attention to the stages in the mountains.
 
Elaborating on the 24.5km TTT, Tinkoff-Saxo’s sports director Patxi Vila notes that despite a homogenous effort, the team didn’t have the required top speed on the parcours.
 
“Unfortunately, this wasn't a good result and we aren't happy with it. Our aim was to lose no more than 50-60 seconds in today's TTT and the 90-second deficit we got wasn't satisfactory. We don't have any TT-specialist in the squad here, all our riders are climbers but still we were hoping for a better result. We didn't find our form in the first half of the race, where we lost 57 seconds while in the second part the guys rode better and lost 30 seconds. They didn't reach their pace fast”, says Patxi Vila and adds:
 
“I don't think there was much more we could do, since five riders crossed the line together. If you have 6-7 that finish together you can always think that one of them could have given more and could have performed better. We had our five fastest riders finishing together. It simply wasn't our day today”.

Tuesday’s TTT took the teams from Roanne to Montagny on a 24.5km parcours with several sections of moderate uphill gradients. Stage 3 was eventually won by BMC four seconds ahead of Astana. Tinkoff-Saxo finished 20th.
 
Starting Thursday, Critérium du Dauphiné enters the mountainous second part of the race with four demanding stages in the French Alps. Despite strong competition, Vila asserts that the squad will enter more favorable terrain.
 
“This deficit of 1:30 minutes now leaves the door open to other tactical choices and options, such as breakaways. We will stick to the overall plan to try positioning Kiserlovski for the GC and we still have a number of very difficult mountain stages ahead. He feels in very good shape and we will see whether he can be at the front on the climbs. We also have to keep in mind his form ahead of the Tour de France and see what we can achieve day by day”, finishes Patxi Vila.