Millar Giro stage 5Today’s relatively short 170 km stage was animated by the Argyle from start to finish. Magnus “Maggy” Backstedt kicked things off from the gun with a breakaway attempt. But the peloton wasn’t interested in letting the Swede go. After Maggy was reeled in, a group of five that included David Millar launched a counter attack.

The five worked together well and built up a solid gap of six minutes quickly. Their lead got up to just over nine minutes before the peloton decided to react. But it was too little too late and the five had a gap of two minutes with just 5 km to go.

Things were looking good for Millar as the strongest of the group…until just inside the 1 km banner when his chain broke! Since the mechanical happened within the last three kilometers, Millar was given the same finishing time as the last rider in the break. He also earned 6″ in time bonuses during the stage and moved up in the overall classification.

“There is not much to say but bad luck! Nothing more, no body to blame,” said DS Matt White. “We will try again soon.”

Slipstream Results Stage 5
1. Pavel Brutt 5:04′52″

27. Christian Vande Velde +31″
104. Magnus Backstedt +3′03″
107. Ryder Hesjedal +3′03″
111. Pat McCarty +3′18″
119. David Millar +25″
143. Julian Dean +8′53″
158. Chris Sutton +13′27″
166. Danny Pate +13′27″

Slipstream GC
1. Franco Pellizotti 21:46′49″
2. Christian Vande Velde +1″
3. Danilo Di Luca +7″
4. Morris Possoni +8″
5. Vincenzo Nibali +8″

64. David Millar +2′02″
81. Ryder Hesjedal +5′26″
160. Magnus Backstedt +29′40″
174. Julian Dean +34′06″
175. Pat McCarty +34′38″
180. Danny Pate +37′54″
188. Chris Sutton +44′29″