Romain Sicard (Europcar) was one of the big surprises in the time trial at the Vuelta a Espana. The Frenchman finished seventh and gained back time even though he remains in 15th in the overall standings.

"I did my best. I have been improving in the discipline and I wanted to do well today. I think I did," he said. "I'm making progress. It was close to my heart to do this TT ] thoroughly and that's what I did. My goal was to do the best time trial and why not get a result.

"A time trial is always significant. It’s a time trial that is very physical in the first part and technical in the second. I was very disappointed after the mountain stages and I wanted to get back on track in the third week."