David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) has taken victory in the final time trial stage of the Three Days of De Panne. His margin of victory was enough to secure the overall race win, his first stage race since the Tour de Picardie in May 2003. He flew around the flat 14.75km circuit in a time of 18 minutes 44 seconds, 5 seconds faster than second placed Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) and 24 seconds ahead of his Garmin-Transitions teammate Svein Tuft.
The most important statistic though was that Millar finished considerably faster than those ahead of him after this morning’s penultimate stage. Luca Paolini (Acqua & Sapone) who had led the race since yesterday slumped to 32nd place, losing 1’12” on the Briton; Adriy Grivko (Astana) had been equal on time with Paolini, and looked the only rider likely to challenge Millar, but he too had no answer to the specialist and lost 47 seconds to finish in eighth place.
Grivko’s time was enough for him to jump ahead of Paolini in the overall standings though to take second place, with the Italian in third.
"This is an important victory and shows that I can do well on Flemish roads," Millar said on Sporza afterwards. "I knew that this I could do well in this time trial, but also in other races. Luckily, I could handle the epic conditions on Wednesday; apparently I ride pretty well in bad weather. I just feel very strong at the moment.”
Millar last won the Three Days of De Panne time trial in 1998, some 12 years ago. "When I was 21 and naive,” he said, “now I’m an experienced rider of 33, I'm getting better with age. On Sunday [in the Ronde van Vlaanderen] I hope I’m able to get to the finish."
Millar’s victory capped a perfect day for the Garmin-Transitions team after Tyler Farrar’s sprint win in this morning’s stage.
Result stage 3b
1. David Millar (GBR) Garmin-Transitions 14.75km in 18’44”
2. Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil @ 5s
3. Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin-Transitions @ 24s
4. Bert Grabsch (Ger) HTC-Columbia @ 30s
5. Dominique Cornu (Bel) Skil-Shimano @ 34s
6. Hayden Roulston (NZL) HTC-Columbia @ 35s
7. Eric Berthou (Fra) Carmiooro-NGC @ 42s
8. Andrei Grivko (Ukr) Team Astana @ 47s
9. Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step @ 49s
10. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator @ 52s
Final overall standings
1. David Millar (GBR) Garmin-Transitions
2. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Team Astana @ 35s
3. Luca Paolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone @ 1’07”
4. Frédéric Armorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet @ 1’25”
5. Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil @ 2’16”