With Denis Menchov set to take third overall and Robert Gesink finishing in sixth, their team celebrated the achievement with some champagne on Saturday night.
"We deserved it, because this was a very good day and Tour,” said directeur sportif Adri van Houwelingen. “I think in terms of ranking, it was the best-ever Tour for Rabobank.”
Koos Moerenhout and Maarten Tjallingii were sixth and eighth on yesterday’s stage, while Menchov sealed his place on the podium when he finished eleventh in the race against the clock. That doesn’t sound spectacular, until you consider that a strong headwind had picked up, and that he was the best of the general classification contenders in the 52 kilometre test.
"Denis was the best man of the day,” asserted Van Houwelingen. “This I base on the differences between Denis and the other classification riders who started around his time. He beat them all, with differences of nearly two minutes to more. This is unprecedented.
“To race 52 km long with calm winds or 52 km with hard winds…That was the difference between Denis and Cancellara today.”
Menchov previously finished fifth in the 2006 Tour de France, and was fourth two years later. Bernard Kohl was subsequently disqualified from third due to doping, but Tour organisers didn’t officially move the Russian up. However he’s now got an undisputed third place overall to his credit.
The former Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia champion was certainly very happy with the performance. “I have ridden the ride of my life. Too bad the wind was stronger toward the end, but the conditions were the same for all general classification riders. I'm not saying I would certainly have won under similar circumstances [to Cancellara], but it certainly would have been close."
He was also happy with the performances over three weeks. “We have ridden very well as a team. This Tour was primarily a strong team effort. I am more than satisfied about me. This third place is a confirmation. I'm still getting better every year…the team also. There was a very strong team this Tour a very strong team. One can also see the results today.”
Van Houwelingen also revealed that he was worried about the sixth place of Robert Gesink during the test, with Ryder Hesjedal gaining time. The Canadian beat him by one minute 53 seconds, but fell 44 seconds short of nabbing sixth overall.
“Hesjedal did a very fast time,” he said, “but he did finally fell silent again. The wind was not good, especially for Robert. [He’s] A tall guy, and the men with the most surface area have simply the most resistance.” However things worked out, and Gesink could hold on.