Tinkoff-Saxo’s Maciej Bodnar finishes Tirreno-Adriatico off with a 5th place in the final time trial behind winner Fabian Cancellara. After a week of racing and a consistent team effort, the GC was concluded with Alberto Contador taking 5th behind overall winner Quintana, while Roman Kreuziger rode his way into the top ten. Peter Sagan was awarded the red jersey as the winner of the point’s classification.
 
Tuesday, the “Race of the Two Seas” had forced its way across the Italian peninsula and was set for a final showdown between the GC riders and the time trialists respectively. The 10k pancake flat TT was dominated by the powerful riders with Maciej Bodnar clocking in the fifth fastest time. Following the stage, the strong Pole noted that he was happy with his performance at Tirreno-Adriatico.
 
“I finished off well today with a fifth place, which is a good result for me, since I’m normally better in time trials a bit longer than we had today. Overall, I feel that I’ve worked well for the team this week at Tirreno-Adriatico”, says Maciej Bodnar and elaborates:
 
“I feel confident about my current shape and it will be exciting to start looking ahead to the next important races, such as the Classics. I have seen some good teamwork and I’m also confident that the team will perform well in the next races”.

Maciej Bodnar had the best time for a while during Tuesday’s TT before Adriano Malori and ultimately Fabian Cancellara overtook him by 16 seconds, with Kiryienka and Castroviejo squeezing themselves in between. Among the GC riders, Alberto Contador rode the second fastest time crossing the finish line in San Benedetto del Tronto in 16thplace. Tinkoff-Saxo’s sports director Steven de Jongh was pleased with the performance.
 
“Today was a good performance by the team. Alberto retained his 5th place and did a good time trial compared to his GC rivals. I think he can be happy with how he finished off. Also, Roman rode well and made his way into the top ten, which is especially important in a World Tour race. The TT was flat but intense and not ideal for GC guys, but luckily they all rode under the same circumstances. Bodnar and Chris Juul-Jensen did a strong ride and clocked in some good times”, comments Steven de Jongh, who adds:
 
“Now it’s all about recovery. Some of the guys are heading to Milano-San Remo and Alberto will start looking ahead to Volta a Catalunya, which is his next goal”.

The fluorescent yellow of Tinkoff-Saxo was more often than not visible at the front of the field during the Italian stage race. Steven de Jongh notes that the team took responsibility in an effort to set up Peter Sagan or Alberto Contador.
 
“We have had a strong team riding for both Alberto in the GC and for Peter’s chances on the flatter stages. So we had to take control at the front like we did on stage 6, where we put the hammer down. Peter wins the points classification, which is, for us, not the same as the overall victory, but it is of course nice and it shows that he was the most consistent of the sprinters”, finishes Steven de Jongh.