After having lost Chris Harper in yesterday’s stage, the black and yellow formation consisted of Wout van Aert, Tony Martin, Pascal Eenkhoorn, George Bennett and Gijs Leemreize. They covered the 18.2 kilometres in twenty minutes and 42 seconds. With that time, the team conceded twenty seconds to Ineos and three seconds to Deceuninck-QuickStep.

“I’m happy and proud about the way we rode”, Van Aert said. “We had a great plan. In the beginning Gijs gave everything he had in service of the rest of the team. This allowed us to save some power. Tony and I were the big engines. We took some intensive turns at the front. We worked together very well. It’s unfortunate that Pascal had a puncture in the last kilometre and a half. Personally, I feel very good here. I’m also very happy about this time trial.”

Despite the bad luck in the last part of the team time trial, sports director Jan Boven spoke full of admiration about his team. “I am very proud of them. We had made a plan in advance. Everyone performed their tasks well. It’s a pity that Pascal had a flat tyre at 1.3 km from the finish. With only a few corners left we lost some time. Otherwise I think we would have been close to the winning team. It says a lot about this team that we still competed for the win.”

After the third stage Van Aert holds third place in the general classification. Eenkhoorn is currently in sixth place. The Tour of Britain’s queen stage is scheduled for tomorrow.