FDJ have traditionally not been among the strongest in the team time trials but yesterday they did surprisingly well when they finished 11th in the World Championships. Having been forced to make late changes to the roster, the team was pleased with the outcome.

The French teams have usually been far off the mark in the team time trials but yesterday FDJ showed that they have made great progress. The team did surprisingly well to finish the race in 11th.

"I am very happy because I saw some serious riders that were motivated despite the absences of Alexander Géniez and Yoann Offredo," sports director Martial Gayant saud. "I regret the loss of those riders who were replaced earlier this week by William Bonnet and Laurent Pichon.

"Those two have not had the ideal preparation but they have done extremely well with Johan Le Bon, Jérémy Roy, Matthieu Ladagnous and David Boucher, who had in mind for several weeks to achieve a good performance. In the end, we did the eleventh best time, 1'30 off the podium, 2 minutes from the first place in a 57km team time trial.

"It is a very long time since our team have made such a good start in a team time trial and been with the best from the first time check. I think the boys have even wondered if they had started too quickly, if they had set the bar too high, but they were helped by Johan Le Bon who finished very strong.

"On Friday and Saturday, he had heavy legs but today he was really good. This result rewards our investment in the riders. Two of our coaches Frédéric Cluster and Julien Pinot did a good job for 72 hours to build cohesion and efficiency and they have chosen the right equipment and prepared the riders well.

"At the finish, we decided with with the riders that we will prepare the next race in Richmond a lot  better and much earlier.our runners led by the next edition in Richmond in the United States that it will prepare a lot better and much earlier. Yes, I am very satisfied."