Team Sky may not have won the team time trial but 3rd was enough to move big favourite Chris Froome ahead of all of his major rivals on GC. The Brit had been encouraged by his own sensations during the ride and was actually happy not to have taken yellow at this early point of the race.

Team Sky had been tipped as some of the pre-race favourites to win today's stage 4 team time trial in Nice but the British team missed out on the opportunity of repeating its Giro win. The performance was only good enough for third place, 3 seconds shy of the win taking by Orica-GreenEdge.

Nonetheless, there was huge satisfaction in the British camp. The performance moves race leader Chris Froome into 7th on GC on equal time with teammates Edvald Boasson Hagen and Richie Porte and ahead of all of his major rivals. His 6-second lead over Alberto Contador (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) may not be huge but it allows the Brit to head into the coming stages with a psychological edge.

Furthermore, Froome was very happy with his sensations on the bike.

"That was a really satisfactory time and we’re really happy with the result", he said Personally, I felt really good – I was able to do little bit longer pulls on the front and I feel like I’m coming into some really good form now ahead of the mountains."

Had the team taken the win, Boasson Hagen would have taken the yellow jersey. That was originally the pre-stage goal but now Froome is actually happy not to be forced to carry the load of controlling the race during the three stages that will bring the peloton to the foot of the Pyrenees.

"The goal today was to get the jersey but we missed it by just three seconds," he said. "If we were in the jersey it would mean that tomorrow, and the next couple of days which are predominantly flat, we’d be on the front doing all that work which I think would be a bit unnecessary at the moment for such a small advantage."

"If we had taken yellow it would have only been by a few seconds so we’re really happy with that time, just three seconds back. That gives us a few more days to be in the peloton and we’ll wait until the mountains come where I feel the team will really excel."

Prior to the stage, the team had been a little cautious as Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard both suffered the effects of their crashes in stage one. However, both managed to contribute significantly to today's performance and were encouraged as a result.

Thomas had started the stage at the back of traing, not taking any relays, but as the kilometres ticked by, he felt better and started to share in on the pace-setting duties. His broken pelvis forced him to stay in the saddle, and so his pre-race target was to survive the first few corners and their subsequent accelerations to get down to the long flat straight on the Promenade d'Anglais.

"I definitely felt better when I woke up this morning and my race was to the promenade after 1km," he said. "When I made it there with the team I was buzzing off that and managed to give what I had. I was shouting at my team-mates at the end, we had to give it everything and we went full gas. We were all encouraging each other and we can be proud of our ride, especially with mine and Ian’s injuries after that crash on the opening day. To gain a bit of time on the other GC teams is a nice bonus."

As a time trial specialist, Thomas would have been a huge benefit to the team, had he been at full strength.

"It would have been nice to have been 100% fit for today because it was the type of course I really like, but that’s sport, and that’s life. I gave it everything, and like I said, we can be proud of ourselves today. The strong guys in the team like Eddie (Boasson Hagen, ed.), Froomey – the onus was on them to really drive the team forward and then everyone else did their bit. I rode the Olympics with Pete (Kennaugh, ed.) last year and obviously he’s got the power, and everyone knows how to ride a TTT in this team. It was really good, really smooth, and I think we got the best out of everyone.2

Regarding the lost opportunity to wear yellow, Thomas agreed with his team captain.

"Being three seconds behind the lead is perfect," he said. "Obviously we would like to have won, and stood on that podium, but it means we don’t have to ride on the front and this should give me two days now to shelter from the wind and focus on my recovery. I feel 10 times better now than I did after the second stage and yesterday, so if I can keep improving, then that’ll be great news."
 

Team principal Dave Brailsford was full of praise for Thomas.

"It was an unbelievable ride by Geraint today," he confirmed. "Like he said, the plan was always for him to get to the Promenade des Anglais because he could only do a seated ride, he couldn’t get out of the saddle, and that’s a very hard thing to do. Then it was about keeping in contact with the team and those first three minutes were his big objective. Not only did he do that, after another three minutes he then started going through, taking turns, and pulling as strong as anyone else. That was incredible to see.

"This was a team time trial and it’s all about the team. This will have lifted the lads’ morale today because they have all put in a good performance. It was a setback with G (Thomas, ed.) and Ian the other day but this will have really settled them down."

Team Sky now heads into a 228,5km stage to Marseille that should end in a sprint but the predicted script could be rewritten due to the Mistral wind. Starting at 14.00, you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.