Millar views Giro d’Italia as a survival camp

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Sickness ruled David Millar out of the Flemish classics that he fell in love with last year, but the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire has put the Scot back on track with second place at the 6.8km individual time trial.

“It’s been a pleasant surprise and I expect to ride significantly faster in a few weeks,” he told Cyclingnews on the start line of stage 4 in Angers, where he celebrated his overall win in the same event exactly 10 years ago, which was also his first success on general classification in his career.

After the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire, the Garmin-Cervélo rider will take part in the Amstel Gold Race, the Flèche Wallonne and the Tour de Romandie as a lead up to the Giro d’Italia where he’ll combine his own ambitions with his work as a helper for sprinter Tyler Farrar and GC rider Christophe Le Mével.

“I really want to win a stage at the Giro,” he said, although he’s not totally impressed by the route that features no less than nine uphill finishes.

“I’ll take the Giro as a survival camp,” Millar said. “From what I understand, it’s just ridiculous. It’s more a circus than a race. It requires a different mentality than for the other events. Since my mentality shifted, I have enough madness, which is quite good. I’m prepared for that. The course will push us to our limits.”

Between the Giro and the Tour, the world time trial championship silver medallist will release his autobiography, entitled Racing Through the Dark: The Fall and Rise of David Millar.