With riders like Fabian Cancellara, Jesse Sergent, Stijn Devolder, Hayden Roulston, and Markel Irizar, Trek were expected to be among the best in yesterday's team time trial in Tirreno-Adriatico. Despite finishing down in 8th, the team claim to be satisfied with the outcome of the stage.

The TTT was similar to the last two editions, but held in the reverse direction and 2km longer. From Donoratico the road went uphill towards Castegneto Carducci, with the last 10 kilometer of the course pancake flat into San Vincenzo.

“I would say this set-up, with the hill in the first part, was a little easier than last year's, at least for me," Yaroslav Popovych said. "Once we hit the straight road to San Vincenzo it was always big gears. The wind came from the side, so we were cruising at around 55 km/h the whole time.”

It wouldn’t be enough, as the team finished in eighth place, roughly a half minute behind the time of the reigning world champions in the discipline, Omega Pharma - QuickStep.

“I think we finished more or less where we expected," General Manager Luca Guercilena said. "We knew it would be hard to play for the win, so our main goal was to bring Kiserlovski and Arredondo, our GC riders, to the finish line in the fastest possible way, and we succeeded in that. For sure, other teams did better, but if we make abstraction of the ‘specialist’ teams, we were good. We know our limits and our GC ambitions are still under control.”

For Julian Arredondo it was a first-time ever in the team time trial:

“The sports directors advised me to stay in the wheel the whole time, so it was more easy for me. This was my first TTT ever. I wasn’t really nervous or scared to get dropped. I felt good. I trained well, so I wasn’t afraid for this event. Let’s hope that in the next days we can show something.”

Tirreno-Adriatico, a seven days event from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic, continues today with a 173km stage between San Vincenzo and Cascina. A bunch sprint is likely.