Arnaud Demare (FDJ) may be mostly known as a sprinter but yesterday he proved that he is a much more versatile athlete. The Frenchman surprised most by finishing 12th against all the world's greatest specialist in the Tirreno-Adriatico time trial and so proved that he is fully ready for Milan-Sanremo.

The top 10 from the Tirreno-Adriatico time trial was an almost all-inclusive list of the world's greatest specialists in the individual discipline but one didn't have to go much further down the list to find a surprise name. In 12th, the name of Arnaud Demare was a non-expected occurence at the top of a leader board of such a heavily loaded time trial.

The result comes just a few days ahead of Milan-Sanremo which is the first big goal for the talented Frenchman who will share captaincy duties with Nacer Bouhanni in the Italian classic.

"The surprise to us comes from Arnaud Démare who finished this stage race really well," sports director Martial Gayant said. "For him and his teammates, the work is done and we now have an absolute focus on recovery. Wednesday will be a day off and on Thursday we will use the Grand Prix Nobili Rubinetterie to stay in the rhythm. We will take care of rest and nutrition.

"Alex was already four seconds behind after one kilometre," Gayant said. "I was a bit scared but then he managed his race well, finishing ten seconds behind Péraud (AG2R-La Mondiale) and nine seconds behind Contador ( Saxo-Tinkoff), the final winner. Alex kept his fourteenth place and will now quietly prepare for the Tour of Catalonia in ten days."