Kristof Vandewalle doubled his world championships tally when he and his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team defended the team time trial title they won last year in Limburg. With a title already under his belt and good form, the Belgian now looks ahead to Wednesday's individual time trial where he hopes to improve on last year's performance.

For the second year in a row, Kristof Vandewalle could step onto the podium and listen to the Belgian national anthem when his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team defended their team time trial world championships in a nail-biting battle against Orica-GreenEDGE. While less prolific than his big-name teammates, the Belgian has been an integral part of the consecutive wins and he now belongs to the select elite with two wins on their palmares.

In the Tour de France, Omega Pharma-Quick Step lost out on the win by a narrow margin of just 0,75 seconds. In an amazing revenge match, the roles were reversed when the Belgian team was just 0,81 seconds faster than their Australian rivals in today's battle for the honour of being the world's best team.

Vandewalle's teammates Niki Terpstra, Sylvain Chavanel, Tony Martin, Peter Velits and Michal Kwiatkowski were all part of the Tour team but the Belgian wasn't in Nice on that cruel day in July. However, he still shares the kind of revenge feeling that most of his teammates expressed at the end of today's ride.

"I was not part of the Tour team but for sure you are constantly living with the team," he told CyclingQuotes.com. "When the team is losing by such a small margin in the Tour, you are also disappointed. Today I also had the feeling of payback time."

Vandewalle was unlucky to crash on stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana and had to abandon a few days later. Having struggled with the effects for a little while, he was happy to fell well in today's race, his major end-of-season target.

"I still had some problems until the beginning of the week so at that moment I had some doubts whether I would be really fit for today," he said. "But I had a good test on Wednesday during the GP de Wallonie. The confidence was growing and the test times were okay. I had great form."

Being a double Belgian champion, Vandewalle was a natural selection for one of the two Belgian spots for the individual time trial. Last year health issues made for a disappointment when he had his first chance to wear his national colours and this year he hopes to improve on that performance.

"It's difficult to really set a target," he said. "It's the second time I can start a time trial at the Worlds. Last year I got sick between the team time trial and the individual time trial. I was 24th or something. For sure I have to do better than last year but it's difficult to really set a goal."

CyclingQuotes.com also talked to Vandewalle about his future and the fact that he will leave the team at the end of the season. You can read more about his thoughts on that subject in a later article.