By a single second, the BMC Racing Team earned its second victory at this year's Tour de France by winning Sunday's team time trial.

The reigning world champions in the team time trial averaged 52.09 kilometers an hour on their BMC timemachine TM01s over the 28-kilometer course to finish in 32:15 and defeat race leader Chris Froome and Team Sky. Movistar Team finished third, four seconds back.

The stage shuffled the top of the overall standings, with Froome now leading van Garderen by 12 seconds. BMC Racing Team's Greg Van Avermaet is third, at 27 seconds. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), who had been second, is fourth, at 38 seconds, and recent Giro d'Italia winner Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) moved up to fifth, at 1:03.

"We knew we were on a really good ride," van Garderen said. "In a perfect world, we would have taken the stage and the yellow jersey. But we will take the stage win. Honestly, I couldn't be happier."

The BMC Racing Team and Team Sky were tied at the first time check at 10 km and Team Sky was one second faster at the second check at 20.5 km. Heading into the final two kilometers - all of it uphill - the BMC Racing Team trailed Team Sky by five seconds.

"The whole thing was just a blur. We definitely had to rail the corners and make sure we stayed together outside of them," van Garderen said. "On the climbs we had to make sure that the stronger guys pulled for longer. You have to finish with five guys. Rohan Dennis he was the key element to the team, he’s just got a motor."

“It’s an incredible feeling. So far the team has been incredible. We’ve passed every test with flying colours. It’s giving me a lot of morale going into the mountains. It’s given the team a lot of morale to see me high up there in GC. Everything is clicking. It’s all about momentum. I think we gained a lot of momentum in this first week.

"Every team has had to spend energy and time on the front. You can look at it in two ways. If we were at the back we could have been tangled up in a bunch of crashes and maybe caught behind some splits like a lot of other teams did. If you spend time on the front it costs energy in the wind but it also saves energy not having to grow skin back overnight.

“First we have to get to the Pyrenees. The Pyrenees are going to be the test to see who’s actually fit enough to win the Tour. The Alps are going to be who has the stamina to make it to the end. We definitely passed the first phase of the Tour very well. With the way I was climbing and feeling in the Dauphiné compared to Froome I think I’m pretty close. We’re really not going to know that until we get to the third week to see who really has the depth to hold it. The Tour is a marathon. We’re not even close to the end.

“I don't know if I should be included in a list called “the Big Five”. Those guys, they have that tag which is getting a little irritating hearing that. I’m not offended not to be named in that. All those guys in the fab four have all won Grand Tours. I’ve had a couple of good top fives in the Tour but I’ve yet to finish on the podium or win one. If I’m not spoken about as much as those guys are I understand but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be intimidated by them. That doesn’t mean I’m not here to race against them or try to beat them. The press can say what they want but that doesn’t make a difference to how things are raced on the road.”

Dennis, winner of the opening stage individual time trial on July 4 and wearer of the yellow jersey for one day, said he thought the team might have started too fast.

"I was really worried the first 10 kilometers. I was actually on my limit," the past world hour record holder said. "When we started losing a couple guys, the directors told us to start pulling longer turns."

Four of the BMC Racing Team's nine riders Sunday were part of the gold medal-winning result last September at the world team time trial championships: Dennis, Daniel Oss, Manuel Quinziato and van Garderen. Joining them in the winning effort this time were Damiano Caruso, Samuel Sánchez, Michael Schär, Van Avermaet and Danilo Wyss.

BMC Racing Team Sport Director Yvon Ledanois said everything went according to plan, with a lot of support from staff behind the scenes.

"When you have the world champions, you don't need to talk very much with them," he said. "They have a lot of experience and this was a big objective for them. The plan was to give 200 percent and they did."

The three-week race enjoys its first rest day Monday before resuming with a 167 km stage Tuesday on the cusp of the Pyrenees mountains.

"We have not had any problems and we have not had any big crashes," Ledanois said. "Tomorrow is recovery for everybody and the team will be ready for the Pyrenees. For sure, Tejay is ready for the mountains."