It was a busy day of racing for Team Katusha on Wednesday as the riders fielded teams in three races in three different countries. In France the Circuit de la Sarthe followed a morning road stage with a short time trial in the afternoon.

The 6,8 km test against the clock took place on a flat course in Angers and Katusha’s Tiago Machado managed a fourth place finish in the stage, bettering his 2010 winning time by 12-seconds.

"My success is all due to improvement in time trial bikes. This bike I rode today is the best I’ve ever had against the clock," said Tiago Machado, referring to his Canyon Spedmax CF TT time trial machine.

Machado’s time was 16-seconds behind winning time of 7.58 belonging to Adriano Malori of Movistar. Second and third places belonged to Alex Dowsett, also of Movistar, and Ramunas Navardauskas of Cannondale-Garmin.

Adriano Malori is the new overall leader of the race. Tiago Machado is 6th now, 16 seconds behind the leader.

It’s back to a road stage on Thursday. The 190,3 km course begins in Angers and ends in Pré-en-Pail.