Albert Timmer is expected to work hard for Marcel Kittel in this week's Ster ZLM Toer but saw a chance to chase a personal result in the opening time trial. His efforts paid off as he came away with a surprise third place.

Albert Timmer has finished the opening seven kilometre time trial of the Ster ZLM Toer in third place, two spots ahead of teammate Marcel Kittel and jsut one second behind the stage winner Philippe Gilbert (BMC).

Timmer raced around the course in a time of 8’38″ on his and led the race for a while before Gilbert then one other moved ahead but it was still a very strong performance from Timmer who returned to racing today after the Giro d’Italia.

After the stage, Tmmer explained how he had targeted the time trial:

“I’m feeling good at the moment and have recovered well from the Giro. Knowing I was feeling strong I spoke with Adriaan [Helmantel - Team Giant-Shimano trainer] about the TT and said that it could be a nice goal for me so we decided I would focus on a strong performance here.

“I didn’t really do too much specific training apart from some blocks on the time trial bike and then today I focused on a perfect warm-up and a good race. It worked out well and I had good legs which meant a nice result at the end.”