Sylvain Chavanel finished in the top 10 of Paris-Nice, placing 8th after he was 11th in the 9.6km Paris-Nice Stage 8 Nice to Col d'Èze time trial, with a time of 20'38", on Sunday.
"This morning I was a little nervous at the start because I was afraid I'd lose a lot of time due to the bronchitis I have," Chavanel said. "A time trial on a climb is a great test, it makes it difficult with breathing. But I did a good warm up and when I started, I knew immediately it was not so bad. The legs had a lot of power, so I did my time trial and I took 8th in the GC. I am happy. With the condition I have now, with the bronchitis, that was the maximum I could do. It's just a shame for the team because Levi was going for the top five in the GC before yesterday's crash. But things like that happen, and we will try to do better next time. I will go back home and try and recovery some energy. Then, I will try for Milan-San Remo."
Perhaps the other big story of the day for Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team was the performance of Levi Leipheimer. He crashed three times during a brutal stage 7 on Saturday,but battled back to race the final stage. He finished 22nd with a time of 20'45". Tony Martin completed the time trial in 20'49", good enough for 25th place.
"I will return to Girona this evening, stay there, and then participate in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya for my next race," Levi Leipheimer said. "We will see what happens during the week. You never know after a crash how you are feeling, or how you can recover."
Dries Devenyns, who abandoned due to the crash on Saturday, was with the team on Sunday.
