Chris Froome has said that the pressure is not on him as he stayed in the leaders yellow jersey as the 102nd Tour De France heads towards its first rest day in Pau.
Froome who did not lose any time in the team time trial said to letour.com: "We would have loved to win today's stage but we can't be disappointed by our performance. I expected something similar from Team Sky and BMC.
"With a difference of point six of a second, we can't know where we've lost and what have we missed. At the end everyone has seen that Nicolas Roche was struggling a bit but this is the nature of team time trial. He has given so much before! BMC did better than us and that's it.
"The first phase has gone better than any of us in the team could have imagined. I haven't lost anything and I even gained time during the first week. It puts us in a fantastic position.
"The pressure is certainly not on my shoulders. It's up to my rivals to make it up. My tactic can be more defensive than I expected. I didn't expect Vincenzo Nibali to have lost so much time by now. To be totally honest, before the Tour I thought he'd be the one of my rivals who would have gained the biggest time in the first week."
Tejay Van Garderen, who sits twelve seconds behind Chris Froome said that the Tour De France is a marathon and said: "It's an incredible feeling to win this as a team. During the first week, we've passed all the tests. It's all about momentum and we've having a great time now.
"First we'll have to get to the Pyrenees. That will be the test. In the Pyrenees we'll see who is fit enough to win the Tour and in the Alps, we'll see who has the resources to win. In terms of physical condition, as we already saw at the Dauphiné,
"I'm pretty close to Froome but we'll only know in the third week who can do what. The Tour is a marathon. We aren't close to the end. I don't know if I should be included in a list called “the Big Five”. The “fab 4” is an irritating tag but those guys have won Grand Tours and I've only had good places in those races, so I understand that media talk less about me but it doesn't mean that I'm intimidated or that I'm not going to fight."