Orica-GreenEDGE rode to fourth place at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships team time trial in Richmond, Virginia today. The Australian outfit started strongly but didn’t have the legs to keep up the pace for the full course, finishing 54seconds behind winners BMC Racing and off the podium for the first time in the event’s history.

Sport director Matt White said the outfit – consisting of Sam Bewley, Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, Michael Matthews, Jens Mouris and Svein Tuft was disappointed not to achieve their ambitious target of a gold medal.

“We came here to win the race and to finish fourth is definitely disappointing for everyone,” White said. “We were fastest at the start and second after ten kilometres but we lost a rider prior to halfway and started to lose time. We were down to five riders and the hardest part of the race was coming home. We had less recovery and a headwind.

“It’s disappointing way to finish the season for the guys, a lot of effort has gone into it, but we will see what the calendar has for next year. Team time trials will always be a target for us and we’ll bounce back.”

Raced on the same roads as the women’s team time trial, the 38.8km course was a fast one with little technical difficulty and a relatively flat parcours until a final 300m rise to the line. At the first intermediate time check, Orica-GreenEDGE sat as third fastest, less than four seconds behind BMC Racing and under a second to Etixx-Quickstep.

BMC Racing continued to extend their lead and at the conclusion won by 12seconds to Etixx-Quickstep who also picked up their pace. Orica-GreenEDGE lost riders and faded towards the finish to drop to fourth behind Movistar who rounded out the podium.

The UCI Road Cycling World Championships continue on Tuesday and Wednesday with the women’s and men’s individual time trials.