Michal Kwiatkowski added a maiden senior world championships to his ever-growing palmares in today's world team time trial championships but the strong Pole had the unusual experience of getting dropped by his team. While being happy with the win, he had no doubt that the win had been taken in what was the hardest time trial of his life.

Being a former junior world time trial champion, Michal Kwiatkowski has long been regarded as one of the biggest talents in the race against the clock. Today he got the chance to add an elite world championships to his long list of achievements when he was part of the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team that narrowly beat Orica-GreenEDGE in today's Worlds team time trial.

Kwiatkowski is a hugely versatile athlete but time trialing has always been his main forte. However, today's race gave him the very unusual experience of getting dropped by his teammates when Tony Martin, Sylvain Chavanel, Peter Velits and Niki Terpstra left him and Kristof Vandewalle behind.

"I was dead," he told CyclingQuotes.com. "I gave it all before I got dropped. I was not saving energy from the start."

"I had left my personal ambitions behind me before the race because it's not a real goal to finish the race with 6 guys. Kristof and I knew that we have to give it all early in the race. We couldn't stay with them when they went so well in the final kilometres."

Actually, it was a maiden experience for Kwiatkowski to get dropped in a team time trial and it wasn't for a lack of trying to stay with his teammates. For a rider who has plenty of time trialing experience despite his young age, it's testament to the toughness of the event that he puts it on the top of the list of tough races against the clock.

"It was the hardest time trial I've ever done," he said. "I've never been dropped by my team. For sure it was my hardest team time trial."

While Kwiatkowski's five teammates were all part of the team that took the inaugural title one year ago, Kwiatkowski was a newcomer, having replaced an injured Tom Boonen. While he describes the feeling as different from winning the junior time trial earlier in his career, it is clearly a proud moment for the rider who has approached the world elite at a rapid pace.

"Of course it's not like being world champion for your country," he said. "It's a different kind of feeling. I've been part of Omega Pharma-Quick Step for two years and it is like a family for me. I'm really happy to be here. That was kind of a revenge from the Tour de France [when Orica-GreenEDGE had beaten Omega Pharma-Quick Step by a similar margin]. It was an exciting moment to fight against the other teams."

Kwiatkowski had originally intended to ride the time trial but after today's experience, he is now doubting his participation. However, he's a guaranteed starter in the road race where he will line up as part of a strong Polish team. You can read more about his expectations for that race and his future role on a team that will also include Rigoberto Uran, in later exclusive articles.