Team Giant-Shimano raced to eighth place at the World Championships team time trial in Ponferrada, Spain today, completing the 57.1km course in a time of 1’04’56, only 1’27″down on winners BMC Racing Team.

The team consisted of Nikias Arndt, Tom Dumoulin, Chad Haga, Marcel Kittel, Tobias Ludvigsson and Georg Preidler.

The team got off to a solid start, looking good on the fast and relatively flat opening 15-20km of the course, good technically and everyone pulling strong and well balanced turns. The team were reduced to five as Tobias Ludvigsson, still recovering from a hard Vuelta a España, dropped off the pace. He had done a strong ride up to the point he pulled off and made sure that he left everything out on the road to benefit the others.

The team came through the second time check quickest at that time, and stayed as five until the bottom of the final climb where Marcel Kittel peeled off to leave four in front.

Nikias Arndt also started to struggle on the climb but fought hard to hold the wheel, while at front Dutch National time trial champion Tom Dumoulin took over and controlled the fast pace to make sure that the they kept a fast pace while also communicating with the others to make sure that Nikias did not get distanced.

From the top of the final climb it was three kilometres to the line with a fast downhill, technical section before a flat straight, right hand bend then another long straight to the finish line. Coming across the line the team were in second but with the favourites still to come home the result was still in the balance.

Eventually they dropped to eighth place but no further, making a big improvement on their 14th placing last year in this event, and proving that the sixth place at the Vuelta was no fluke.

“We did a good job out there. We blew up a little bit on the strong headwind before the final climb but we kept it together and did good. Technically we did it much better than the last years that I have done it. To be on the podium you need more horsepower and that’s all it came down to,” Tom Dumoulin said after the finish to the Giant website.

“It’s not really preparation for Wednesday as it is a big race in itself but I am feeling strong and it’s a good test before then, so I am looking forward to it.”