David Millar takes an end-season double
Sunday’s Chrono des Nations was Millar’s last chance to mine his top time-trialling form, which began at the Vuelta a España and which he brought to the World Championships in Geelong, Australia and the Commonwealth Games in New
Delhi, India. Millar took the silver in Geelong and the gold in New Delhi. He enjoyed his season-ending elite men’s victory on Sunday with Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli in the elite women’s category and Alex Dowsett in the espoir men’s. Dowsett rode against the younger
riders at the Chrono but had competed against Millar in New Delhi and won the silver medal.
“I’ve never felt as good in time trials as I do now,” said Millar. “From experience, I’m no longer stressed and I know my schedule from sunrise until the moment I start. I’m also no longer afraid of tiring early, I go hard from the first half hour.”
The Scotsman won the 48.5km time-trial with a time of 58:53, the only rider to finish in under an hour. He was followed by Edvald Boasson Hagen 2:19 behind and Lieuwe Westra 3:06 behind.
“I felt strong although the wind made the race extremely hard,” said Boasson Hagen. “I’m happy to finish my season this way but Millar’s time is really impressive.”
Millar represented Scotland in the World Championships and in the Commonwealth Games, where he took one of only four out of 16 gold medals to go to a non-Australian cyclist. He finished the course in New Delhi nearly a full minute
ahead of young Dowsett.
“It's been my big goal all year - it feels great,” said Millar. “It was hard. It was like being on a treadmill in a sauna.”
Millar said that one of the secrets to his success was to ride without brakes. He removes the rear brakes from his bike specifically before racing in a time-trial.
“When you think that your brakes are rubbing against the wheel, it obsesses you and you no longer feel free to perform,” explained Millar.
The team Garmin rider set a new record and is now the only cyclist to ever have finished the course in less than 59 minutes, despite suffering under a strong headwind in the final 10km.
“This is definitely a great way to finish the season,” said Millar. “I can’t remember ever feeling that comfortable on a bike. I was in control the whole way. I’m surprised how strong I was. I wish it was always that easy. It was
my perfect course. If I was to design a course, it would be similar to that. I found it very interesting and never boring.”
The elite women’s competition was won by French cyclist Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli. She finished the 20.87 kilometre route in 29:22, 30 seconds ahead of Amber Neben and 1:07 ahead of Edwige Pitel.
The 30.63km espoir men’s time-trial was won by British cyclist Alex Dowsett in 48:38, 1:23 ahead of Romain Bacon and 2:03 ahead of Nicolas Bonnet.
End-season streak
Millar began the 2010 season strongly, with stage wins in the Critérium International and the Three Days of De Panne and finished first overall in the latter. His season had to take some unofficial downtime after a crash in the Tour de France. He wore the
green jersey at the Tour after finishing third in the prologue, but suffered a crash in the ninth stage which didn’t force him to quit the race but was serious enough to keep him at the back of the peloton.
“It was surreal. I really thought I was out of the race,” said Millar. “I was 30 minutes down with 80km to go. By the time I got to the finish, I didn’t know if I’d made the time cut — all I knew was that I’d finished. And at the Tour, it’s about finishing."
For the second year in a row, Millar finished all three Grand Tours. He used the Vuelta a Espana as a warm-up for the World Championships, where he took the silver medal behind record-breaker Fabian Cancellara. He was very satisfied for an unexpected bronze
medal win at the Commonwealth Games road race, supported by a relatively inexperienced Scottish team.
"They all excelled - they were as good as my pro' team. They were all very motivated and I think motivation has a big effect. I wouldn't have got the medal without them and I'm proud of them all. I feel very proud of myself too. I haven't raced with such
heart and with such passion for a long time. I came here for the time trial, but I went really deep today, and I'd like to say thank you to Scotland for having me.”
Tags: