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Near their European base, the Garmin-Slipstream men go on the attack
It should come as a surprise to no one that Garmin-Slipstream’s David Millar went out on the attack on Thursday’s stage from Girona to Barcelona.
Like the majority of the Garmin-Slipstream riders and staff, Millar lives in Girona. In fact the scene at the start area was a family reunion for several Garmin riders that make Girona their European home, including Christian Vande Velde and Dave Zabriskie.
Vande Velde’s wife Leah was outside the Garmin bus with their two daughters — Uma, who just celebrated her second birthday, and Madeline, who was born in February; Zabriskie’s wife Randi was also on hand with their 13-month-old son Waylon.
Zabriskie was the first rider of the day to gain any real advantage on the peloton with an attack around 30km, but the first real gain for a breakaway was Millar, who attacked at the 46km mark. After Sylvain Chavanel and Stephane Auge joined the move — and later Euskaltel’s Ahmets Txurruka bridged across — the day’s break had been established.
“I’ve done that coast road so many times in training and I know it so well. I thought, I can have some fun here,” Millar said. “Before I knew it I was off on my own and it was uh-oh ... Then it was cat and mouse and seemed destined for failure.”
Millar wasn’t waiting around for the peloton, or his breakaway companions, to come to the finish line together. The former world time trial champion struck out on his own again with 29km remaining, doing what he could to maintain a lead over the bunch, only to be caught 1600 meters from the finish line.
“(Team director Matt White) gave me the heads up and it kind of made perfect sense to me as well to go then,” Millar said. “I go faster on my own then I would with them. Sometimes you catch the peloton out. They see the break, they slow down and they don’t realize one guy has gone off. It was a fairly calculated move.”
Once Millar was caught, he was unable to finish with the front group of 43 riders, finishing 1:21 down on stage winner Thor Hushovd.
“I believed I had a chance of going all the way but once I arrived on those big boulevards I knew the peloton would be able to organize the chase better,” said Millar. “It was a bit dangerous, and in the wet corners I was taking no risks. I did not want to crash in front of millions of people on TV, so I was taking it a bit conservatively. And when you turn around and see the pack coming up so quick, it’s like someone unplugging the power. You die immediately.”
Millar was rewarded for his efforts with some podium time as the day’s most aggressive rider.
“I’m pleased,” Millar said. “I did everything I could. It was my home stage and I was extra motivated.”
However the team also had to contend with injury, as sprinter Tyler Farrar hit the deck in a crash 20km from the line. The crash also took down Michael Rogers, George Hincapie and Heinrich Haussler. (Hincapie posted on Twitter that he has “never been so scared on the bike” as he was in the final kilometers of Thursday’s stage.)
Farrar, who has finished second twice at this Tour in sprints behind Mark Cavendish, crossed the line over 10 minutes behind the stage winner, clutching his ribs. A team spokesman told VeloNews Farrar was examined by team doctors and had “no apparent fractures, and is ready for another day.”
Friday’s stage, however, won’t start in Garmin’s hometown, and instead will finish atop Arcalis in Andorra.
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