Although Manolo Saiz's teams have a history of doing well in team time trials, today's performance in stage 5 by Liberty Seguros-Würth, which finished 17th of 22 teams, probably wasn't one of them. Despite this, the team is maintaining a positive outlook after the flat and fast 35 km leg between Paicenza and Cremona. In the end, the team only lost 1'25 to winners CSC, and with most of the riders being climbers, it wasn't a bad performance according to team director Marino Lejarreta.
"There were no big differences," said Lejarreta. "The team limited its losses well, because the majority of our riders are climbers. I want to point out the good work that Baranowski, Scarponi and also De Kort have done.
"The only ones that achieved a slightly greater advantage were CSC and T-Mobile, but we are inside the norm, because up to two minutes' difference was reasonable to expect in such a fast time trial. We have to be mentally prepared because there will be much bigger differences in the 50 km individual time trial."
Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*
Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets
After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59
Join now for unlimited access
Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1