John Archibald just one second off stage win at Tour of Poitou-Charentes

Riding for his EOLO-KOMETA team, time trial specialist Archibald was one of the earlier starters and set the best time of 27 minutes 55 seconds for the 23.5 kilometre penultimate stage of the four-day race.

And only one of the subsequent riders was able to beat it, Belgium’s Ben Hermans bettering Archibald’s mark by an agonising single second.

“I gave everything I could,” he said afterwards. “The first half of the course had some climbs and downhills, while the second half was faster and also a bit more technical.

"With the fatigue accumulated in my legs during the previous stages my pace was not perfect, but I tried my best”

Archibald finished 91st in the overall general classification for the 2.1 category race and 20th in the points classification.