Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Leopard) tried to make it three in a row in today's final time trial in Tirreno-Adriatico. He ended up fourth and was clearly beaten by world TT champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), but sport director Dirk Demol has no doubt that his captain will be ready for Sunday's Milan-Sanremo.

Fabian Cancellara was not only beaten in by archrival Tony Martin on today's 9,2 km course along the seafront in San Benedetto del Tronto. He also saw the German powerhouse beat his 2011 course record by no less than 8 seconds.

Giving time trials less priority to focus on the classics, Cancellara was not too concerned by his defeat. He attributed his disappointing performance to his participation in the breakaway on yesterday's extremely hard stage and was already looking to his first big objective of the season.

“It was business as usual," he said. " I tried to do something today, but with all the intensity of yesterday and also being in the break it was maybe too much for me.  I think I did the maximum, and it was a good race overall.  Everyone gave their best, and it was good working for Chris (Horner, ed.).  Sanremo is coming up, and it’s not the most difficult race, but it’s the most difficult race to win.  There are so many options there – it’s like playing the lotto and hoping for the jack pot.”

A well-prepared team

Cancellara is a former winner of La Primavera and came close to a repeat win last year when he was narrowly beaten by Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) in a three-man sprint. His participation in Tirreno-Adriatico was mainly preparation for his attempt to make up for that disappointment, and sport director Dirk Demol sees great benefits of one hard week of training.

“Now we go to the classics," Demol said. " We chose to come here with the classics team instead of Paris-Nice, and even if the weather wasn’t so good this year, the distances were long and everyone came through it well.  As a team we saw everyone getting stronger every day.  This gives us so much confidence, starting next Sunday with Milan-Sanremo.  The team is ready, and our leader Fabian is ready.”

Radioshack has yet to win a race this year, and while this might have been a reason for concern in some teams, Demol is unfazed by the lack of success. Until now it has mostly been preparation, but that phase is now over.

“We came here with two goals," Demol explained. "The first was to help Chris (Horner, ed.) to make a good place in the overall.  And the second was to improve the condition of the classics riders.  Fabian looks very good.  Hayden (Roulston, ed.), Danilo (Hondo, ed.) too. All of them are good.  We’ve been training for these upcoming races for a long time now and are anxious to get started.  We haven’t had a victory yet, but we’ve come close, and I think we will be ready.  We didn’t put much pressure on here, but I can promise you there is pressure for these next races.  It’s time for a victory.”

Horner satisfied with performance in strong field

In a team of sprinters and classics riders, Chris Horner was out of line. The American GC rider had not entered the race with a firm eye on the classics. He was looking for a result in his first race of the year.

The 41-old American impressed and was clearly one of the strongest on the climbs. A poor showing in the opening team time trial where the team only managed 10th and Horner's own lack of time trial abilities in today's final stage meant that he was some way off the podium in 6th.

With one of the best fields seen outside a grand tour for years, the veteran was, however, happy to be amongst the top in such a competitive line-up.

“My goal today was to keep sixth place and possibly move up to fifth," he explained. " It would have been good to get top five and the (WorldTour, ed.) points with it.  But overall I am very happy with this week.  I made a few mistakes yesterday that - if I were younger - I would beat myself up more over them, but now I just take the lessons.  This was my first race of the season, so I’m very pleased with the way the legs came around.  To be in the top ten with this quality field is very special."

Clearly in strong condition Horner now looks to impress in the next two stage races on the WorldTour calendar.

"Now I will race Catalunya and the Basque Country.  I’ll be looking for my last little bit of form, that extra 1-2%, and that will make the difference for me.  Those races are more my style.  The steep, longer climbs are for me, so I’ll hope to be better in those races.”

Horner won the 2010 edition of the Tour of the Basque Country and was on the podium in Catalunya in 2011. Hence, he has every reason to enter the races with some optimism.

The Volta a Catalunya starts on Monday.