Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rode an incredible TTT on Tuesday, finishing 2nd in 25km Stage 4 of the Tour de France with a 57.8km/h speed and finishing with a time of 25'57".
The defending World TTT Champions had the best intermediate time by several seconds, passing the 13km checkpoint with an average speed of 58.8km/h. However, ORICA-GreenEDGE rode a negative split, passing the 13km point 3" down on OPQS, but earning a stage victory with a 25'56" time. This was enough to best OPQS by less than a second. Sky ProCycling alo rode a negative split, passing the checkpoint several seconds behind and finishing 3rd, 3" down.
OPQS now has two riders in the Top 5 of the GC: Michal Kwiatkowski in 4th, and Sylvain Chavanel in 5th. Both are just 1" down from Simon Gerrans, Daryl Impey, and Michael Albasini of ORICA-GreenEDGE.
OPQS looks next to a 228.5km Stage 5 of the Tour, which includes four categorized climbs. There is a non categorized climb at km 216, which descends to the finish line.
Rolf Aldag
"I'm really proud of the team," Sport & Development Manager Rolf Aldag said. "I really think they gave it all. If you look at the situation — how hard Tony crashed, yesterday bad luck for Niki, he had problems breathing — I think we got the best of the situation and I think we have to respect that ORICA-GreenEDGE was just a little bit faster. I think we need to congratulate them for a very strong TTT. Our Tour goes on and we will do our best for the next stages. It's just important not to look at it with frustration. I think we have a lot of things to be proud about after the crashes and the bad luck of the first days of race. The team is there and the guys motivated. I think we can all look back and say 'yep, we gave it all."
Michal Kwiatkowski
"We did everything we could," Kwiatkowski said. "I'm a bit sad for the team and for me. It would have been the best day of my life, but I'm also happy with what I did in these first four days of racing."
"I don't know how long I can do it, but I will do my best to keep this white jersey," Kwiatkowski said. "I felt pretty well here on the climbs, and my condition is good. We will see how it goes. I will also try to stay high in the GC for as far into the Tour as possible. We will have a few stages for Cavendish and for sure, when we get to the Pyrenees, I will do my best to try to stick with the best."
Tony Martin
"The whole team was really motivated," Tony Martin said, having performed well despite a hard crash at Tour de France Stage 1. "The victory was the goal today for sure. I think the course was good for us. It was long straights, not too many corners. We could really lay the momentum down there. So, yeah, we directly found a good rhythm and kept a good speed. There was not really anybody who was weaker or much stronger than the others. At the end it's hard to say where we lost one second or where we could go faster. I think the most important part is that we keep the morale and to keep on fighting. There are a lot of goals to keep reaching for still in this Tour. We shouldn't forget that Kwiatkowski and Chavanel are within one second of the yellow jersey."
"We were not in the best position after the crashes earlier in the Tour," Martin said. "I think today was really fantastic work for all the team today and we should be happy about it. We are all disappointed a little bit, but I think right now we are slowly starting to laugh again and we know we can make it sooner or later. We have Cav for the sprint, me for the ITT, Kwiatkowski and Chava for the GC. So, we still have the white jersey. I think we are all ok and we will take our chances sooner or later."
"My objective is to make it to the first rest day without any problems," Martin said. "Most of the injuries would be mostly OK and I can start recovering a little bit faster and hope to be 100% again on the ITT."