Brit David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) dreams of conquering France's Critérium du Dauphiné over the next four days. Yesterday, he made progress towards the overall victory thanks to a second place in the race's time trial.
"I almost crashed twice!" said Millar in a press release. "My wife was in the following car and wasn't too impressed with my death defying antics."
Millar's 'antics' gained helped him beat the time of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) and take the provisional lead in the 49-kilometre time trial. His time of 1:02'17" stood until Lance Armstrong's team-mate, Janez Brajkovic crossed the line 26 seconds faster at 1:01'51".
Brajkovic, 26, is destined to ride his first Tour de France thanks to his strong result, enough to take the overall lead of the race ahead of four days in the mountains.
Millar is guaranteed to race the Tour de France, where he will support leader Christian Vande Velde. At the week-long Critérium du Dauphiné, though, he is aiming for his first overall win since the Three Days of De Panne in April.
"I'm pleased with the result," Millar continued. "I was aiming for the win, but am not disappointed with second. The main reason being I felt good out there on the road and finished strong and fresh, which perhaps wasn't the ideal way to finish a 49km TT! But a good sign considering the mountainous days ahead.
"The TT itself was demanding – horrible bumpy roads into a block headwind, it felt so slow and I was very surprised when I came through the first time check so fast. I maybe relaxed a bit too much after that for the final part of the climb, but that meant I was very fast in the final."
He trails Brajkovic by 36 seconds in the overall classification.
Earlier this week, he said that he wants to better his ninth place result of last year, at least making a top five on the final podium in Sallanches. A top five finish, rather than the win, is reasonable given that two-time Tour de France champion, Alberto Contador (Astana) is 1'05" behind.
Contador is likely to gain ground on Millar in the two mountaintop stages: today's stage to Risoul (1870m) and Saturday's stage to Alpe-d'Huez (1850m).
"I'll give everything," Millar said of the stage to Risoul. "After that we'll decide how we'll tackle the rest of the race."