Featured Athlete: David Millar

We slept them, we fed them, we warmed them up, we cooled them down, we fed them again, we compressed them, we drove them, we dressed them, we fed them some more, we warmed them up, we iced them down, we made them drink, and in the end, they went really fast. Best team of the day and some world-class performances by Millar, VandeVelde, and the Pate. All I can say is congrats and bravo to all of the athletes, staff, and sponsors who helped make all of this happen.

I think that we’ve proven that we are the best time trialing team in the entire world. We proved that in Georgia, at the Giro, and again today here at the Tour. For me, it’s personally gratifying as the time trial is the one thing that we can control. As they say, it’s the race of truth and something I know we are all really proud of — proud, because these performances didn’t just come out of no where.

At our first team camp in Boulder, the first major project we took on was wind tunnel testing our riders and their old and new equipment and positions at the Colorado Premiere Training Wind Tunnel in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Next were extensive position adjustments and checks with the help of Todd Carver from Retul. Then came all of the field testing with our one-of-a-kind Zipp PowerTaps, equipment modifications and design by sponsors like Felt, Oval and Giro, and some serious investment of time and resources by Pearl Izumi to help design and build the fastest speed suit in the world as well as some of the coldest ice vests in professional cycling. From that point on it was skills and drills all the time. I don’t know of another team out there that put as much time and energy into training together on the time trial bike. Then came all of the extra work by our staff and mechanics to nail down our race day routines. From the logistical madness of keeping our guys cool, to Morgan Nichols from Oval building us custom hosing to vent the fumes off our bus, to the coordination of athletes and staff to pre-ride, recon, split time, and nail down every last possible detail that could help us go faster. When I think about all that detail, it floors me.

In the end, all of the guys had nothing left to do but lay it all out there – no doubt, no remorse, no blame. For David, that amounted to an average power output of 400 Watts, with surges between 500 to 600 Watts on the numerous 20 second to 2 minute rollers that lined the course and speeds of up to 80 kph at 0 to 400 watts on the descents. Perfectly paced with just over 17 minutes below 5 watts per kg and almost 19 minutes above 5 watts per kg.

And ya, we were a bit nervous in the car today and ya, JV forgot he was on live TV when he told Robbie Ventura from Versus what was on his mind. But in the end, just because we’re a clean team, doesn’t mean we can’t talk dirty. I think with all of the hard work we’ve done this last year, we deserve at least that much.

The Irish Independent weighs in on David Millar’s chances for stage 6 of the Tour that winds through the Massif Central before finishing on Super Besse.

“Millar, 31 — but looking fitter than ever, will have genuine hopes of securing the yellow jersey. He was the last British rider to wear it — in 2000 when he won the Prologue in Paris.”

The Daily Record talks to David Millar about his 3rd place finish in the stage 4 time trial at the 2008 Tour de France.

From the article: “Millar is now looking positively towards tomorrow’s tricky climber’s stage to Super-Besse. He said: ‘This has put me in a good position. Plan A was to try toget the yellow jersey here, so we’ll have to use plan B now - rendezvous at Super-Besse.’ “

The Huntington Herald-Dispatch features Charleston native William Frischkorn and his performance at the 2008 Tour de France.

Race report from DS Chann McRae

It was crazy today! An 11-man break formed early and we had to chase freaking hard! On the climb with Levi, Peter Stetina gets to within seven seconds of the breakaway. Levi will not pull through, so they don’t close the gap and the break goes up to two minutes. We chase again with five of us and four Healthnets and close the gap to 45 second with 10k to go.

Santiago Botero is in the break and going like mad. With 2 km to go, the break riders are being absorbed. Some stay off, some are caught. Blake Caldwell, Pat McCarty and Peter go well on the climb - maybe top ten over the summit, but Botero stays off and wins.

But now we have 3 cards - Blake, Pat and Peter - to play for the GC and the rest of race.

Writing for VeloNews, Will Frischkorn reports on the longest stage of the 2008 Tour de France.

From the diary: “With a nearly straight on wind at our backs we cruised at 45ks an hour with little stress. Lots of time to catch up with others in the bunch and relax a bit. For me it was another great opportunity to flush out the legs, and after a little while I was feeling back to normal.”

The Independent covers David Millar’s performance in the stage 4 time trial of the 2008 Tour de France and his hopes for grabbing the lead.

Millar reflected: “I’m climbing really well at the moment, and I’ll see what happens in the days ahead, but I think I’m going to be better than anybody has ever seen me before.”

Schumacher was not so optimistic about his chances, pointing out that the Superbesse –”Is not good for me. All I wanted was a stage win and a day in the lead. If I can hang on [tomorrow] it will be a big bonus.”

More of a transition from the first, few nervous days to tomorrow’s first climbs, today’s 232 km was a long predictable stage. A break of three went early but was caught just before the finish as the sprinters cranked up their game. With the help of a mini Team Garmin-Chipotle train, Julian Dean (above) jumped in the final fray for a 10th place finish.

There were no changes to the overall and Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O will get to defend their coveted yellow numbers for yet another day.

Stay tuned for photos from today’s long, hot, sweaty stage.

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O stage 5 results
1. Mark Cavendish 5h27′52″

10. Julian Dean +00″
17. Magnus Backstedt +00″
50. David Millar +00″
55. Martijn Maaskant +00″
59. Christian Vande Velde +00″
105. Trent Lowe +00″
109. William Frischkorn +00″
152. Ryder Hesjedal +00″
156. Danny Pate +00″

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O GC
1. Stefan Schumacher 19h32′33″
2. Kim Kirchen +12″
3. David Millar +12″
6. Christian Vande Velde +37″
57. William Frischkorn +3′51″
66. Julian Dean +4′19″
74. Martijn Maaskant +4′48″
83. Danny Pate +5′23″
85. Ryder Hesjedal +5′26″
106. Trent Lowe +6′26″
142. Magnus Backstedt +8′53″

Team CG
1. Garmin-Chipotle 58h37′35″
2. Team Columbia +1′44″
3. Team CSC +2′35″