For a long time it looked like Affini was on his way to his first win of the season, but he eventually had to settle for his third second place finish in a time trial this year. Earlier he was second in the opening time trial of the Giro and a few weeks later he was second in the Italian championship.

“I am of course disappointed with the result, but not with my performance”, Affini said. “I think I have done a good time trial. I was hopeful that I could possibly win the stage when other specialists went slower. In the end, fifteen seconds is a lot and I don’t have to reflect about whether I could have done things differently. I really gave everything I had; one guy was just faster. To finish among some of the best TT specialists today gives me confidence and a good feeling towards the European and World Time Trial Championship.”

Mike Teunissen, who started the time trial in fourth place overall, was not satisfied with his performance. “I had hoped to be able to ride a good time trial here. But I wasn’t good enough today. I did not have the right speed in the second part of the course and then you know you’re going to lose way too much time. That’s a pity, especially after I had good hopes yesterday. However, this gives a realistic picture of the balance of power. For the rest of the week, our tactics will not change. We have to gain time from now on and who knows, maybe we can still ride a good classification.”