Going into the Tour de San Luis time trial, all eyes were on Adriano Malori and Michal Kwiatkowski. The two favourites lived up to expectations by occupying the first two spots but they were nearly beaten by Ag2r's Hugo Houle who was just 5 seconds behind Malori in third.

"I'm really happy, I worked hard during the winter season to start the season strongly," the Canadian said. "This period is important for me since I have to be in shape for the classics season.

"I did not expect to be on the podium in the first time trial of the season. I finished within a second of road world champion Michal Kwiatkowski. It was a dream to make such a performance. 

"I am just really happy that everything went well today I could not start 2015 in a better way.

The performance is not Houle's first good time trial result. In 2012, he was third in the time trial at the Tour de Beauce and he was second behind Sven Tuft in his national championships last year.