"The weather conditions were not really in our favour" - Team Visma | Lease a Bike explain time loss in Paris-Nice team time-trial

With Team Visma | Lease a Bike once again showing off their new, much-talked-about time-trial helmet on the team time-trial of stage 3 at the Paris-Nice, finishing 6th, 38 seconds down on UAE Team Emirates.

"I am very satisfied with this," reflects Team Visma | Lease a Bike's team manager Frans Maassen post-stage to the team's official website. "The weather conditions were not really in our favour, but I think we performed to the maximum as a team. We were very motivated at the start and the guys fought as hard as they could."

Team Visma | Lease a Bike started strongly but with both the weather and perhaps tired legs playing a part, faded somewhat in the second half of the course. "We wanted to start quickly and honestly we were surprised to get over the second climb with seven riders. At that point we had high hopes that we were going to catch back some time, but unfortunately the wind changed. The final teams didn't have that benefit," assesses Maassen. 

"Tomorrow we will know better what everyone is worth," he concludes, eyeing a tough stage with six climbs on the route. "We will see who can call himself the best climber of Paris-Nice."