Intxausti: From the outside Team Sky looks like a closed circle, but it's really not

Beñat Intxausti has started pretty well at Team Sky, finishing third overall in his first race for the British team, and says the team has made it easy for him to settle in.

Supporting team leader Wout Poels in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Intxausti claimed some of his own glory by finishing second to the Dutchman on the climb to Xorret di Cati to secure a podium finish.

From the outside, Team Sky can look a little intimidating for new riders, but Intxausti, who joined from Movistar in the offseason, insists the team is not like that.

"Yes it is true that from the outside it may seem like a closed circle but when you get inside you realise that it is something else," he told Biciciclismo.

"The treatment is outstanding and the care for each rider is 100 per cent; you have everything you want and it's all at hand. That is very satisfying and influences in your mood."

With the likes of Grand Tour hopeful Mikel Landa and Ardennes challenger Michal Kwiatkowski also joining Sky for 2016, Intxausti's arrival went a little under the radar.

But a stage win in the Giro d'Italia last year, in which he helped teammate Andre Amador to fourth overall, showed he won't just hide in the shadows in his new team and he's glad to have made a positive start.

"It's pretty good start on a new team and it is important for my confidence," he added. "I knew I was more or less riding well, but you always have a question, having not tested myself in competition. I had to prove it."