After a difficult Tour de France, Christophe Riblon put the disappointments behind him in this week's Tour de Pologne by finishing fourth overall. Despite not knowing the reasons for his travails, he was pleased to finally be back at best level.

One year ago Christophe Riblon had a magic Tour de France that saw him win the queen stage to Alpe d'Huez but this year things were completely different. The Ag2r rider struggled through the race and never found his best form.

Last year he went straight from the Tour to the Tour de Pologne where he finished third overall. This year he tried to repeat the success and he finally found his best legs when he finished 9th in today's time trial to take fourth in the final GC.

The result capped a great win for Ag2r that also won the first stage and the points jersey with Yauheni Hutarovich.

"Today I did one of my best time trials, both regarding sensations and management of my effort," Riblon said. "I’m pleased with my performance after two difficult months without knowing why I was not in a good shape. Obviously, I would have liked to be on the podium but I should not be too greedy.  

"Last year, I took the start of the Tour of Poland in my top shape, this year I improved my shape during the stages. It’s encouraging, now I have to keep these good feelings as long as possible and in order to do it I have to keep a good spirit and continue to work well. Among the important upcoming goals I focus especially on the Canadian races (Grands Prix Cyclistes Québec and Montréal) and why a selection for the World Championships."

"Yauheni (Hutarovich) put the team on the right track with a stage win on the first day," sports director Stephane Goubert said. "He was protected in case of a sprint finish, but it was not easy to win that day with very dangerous weather conditions.

"This victory rewards his efforts after a period of doubt. Even if he won twice this season, he had not yet won on that level and I hope that is for him the start of other successes.

"We had three cards to play for the overall standings. Christophe (Riblon) was protected but Maxime (Bouet) and Alexis (Vuillermoz) were in ambush for a good ranking  overall. There was an excellent team spirit.

"Alexis  struggled in the first difficult stage because of the weather conditions and he lost some time. He tried to recover tje lost time the next day by breaking away but unfortunately it didn’t work. Then, Christophe knew yesterday’s stage by heart and it gave him confidence to take a good 4th place.

"The final balance is positive. We don’t have to forget the good work done by the rest of the team. Guillaume (Bonnafond) and Gediminas (Bagdonas) worked a lot to get bottles and preserve the sprint jersey of Yauheni.

"Hugo (Houle) was sick with fever early in the race but he hung on and he has really done a great job in the difficult stages. As for Davide (Appollonio), he improved his level and took some good places in the sprints. Everybody did well."