Tinkoff-Saxo were not mentioned among the pre-race favourites for the World Team Time Trial Championships but the team did a surprisingly good performance to finish 5th, just 15 seconds off the silver medal. Manager Bjarne Riis was proud of his young team that did the final part of the course faster than anyone else.

In the last few years, Tinkoff-Saxo have rarely been in contention for the wins in the team time trials and so the expectations for the Russian team weren't too big ahead of today's World Championships. However, the team was keen to give it a shot and lined up several of its biggest stars, with Michael Rogers, Daniele Bennati and Nicolas Roche leading the line and being joined by TT specialist Manuele Boaro and young Danes Christopher Juul and Michael Valgren.

Going into the race, the team had flown under the radar but they did a surpringly good performance. Having gone faster and faster throughout the entire race, the team finished the race in 5th, just 15 seconds behind Orica-GreenEDGE in second.

"That was a beautiful fifth place. The really did a fantastic race. It is a shame," manager Bjarne Riis told CyclingQuotes at the finish, referring to the small margin that separated them from a medal

"We were just 11 seconds off third place. We knew it would be difficult but it was a shame. We passed the test and it is a good performance if you remember that we had a couple of young guys on the roster. Those two guys were really impressive. Juul led the team up the hill in the finale.

"Valgren rode a fantastic race and is brutally strong. He needs to lose a few kilo and then he will be with the very best. He is very strong, really impressive.

"In the final 10km, we were the fastest team."

Despite the near-miss, the team's captain Michael Rogers admits that a medal was probably beyond their reach.

"I don't think we could have gone 10 seconds faster," he told us. "I can't see where he could have found those seconds."

Last year Tinkoff-Saxo were ninth in the event.