Despite sickness reducing the Garmin-Cervélo team to just five men in the last week of the Giro d’Italia, those left are still highly motivated to make their mark on the race. While the American team missed out on stage eighteen’s decisive breakaway, Cameron Meyer told VeloNation that the final stage time trial in Milan is very much in his sights.
“I’m still okay,” he said at the start of stage eighteen. “I’m looking forward to Sunday; the next two stages are mountain top finishes…”
Top sprinter Tyler Farrar left the race after the neutralised fourth stage, devastated over the death of his close friend Wouter Weylandt, but the other three retirees have been down to poor health. Brett Lancaster climbed off on the stage to Gardeccia/Val di Fassa on Sunday, while Matt Wilson and Brazilian champion Murilo Fischer finally succumbed on yesterday’s long hot stage between Feltre and Tirano.
“Obviously Matt Wilson struggled,” he said. “He got a little bit sick and some of the others as well. Hopefully it’s not going through the team, but the five we’ve got left are motivated still and hopefully there’s a few good things to come.”
While the two remaining mountain stages, with their high altitude finishes at Macugnaga and Sestrieres, might be beyond the ambition of most of the team, the pan-flat time trial around the streets of Milan is very much to the liking of more than one of them.
“I know that in the time trial on Sunday; look out for David Millar,” said Meyer, “and hopefully I can be up there as well.”
Christophe Le Mével has had the dubious honour of being Garmin-Cervélo’s nearly man of the race so far. The Frenchman came within five seconds of the pink jersey in the first week of the race, and since then has been in numerous breaks, including that on stage seventeen. So far Le Mével has not been rewarded with success, but this will not keep him from trying.
“He’s still battling on,” said Meyer. “He’s getting a little bit tired obviously, as a lot of people are, but he’s still motivated and you can see he was in the breakaway again [on stage seventeen] so he’s still sticking it out.”
Along with Meyer, Millar and Le Mével is the young American duo of Tom Peterson and Peter Stetina, both picking up some valuable experience in their first Giri d’Italia. Aside from the time trial specialists on Sunday, it would be tough to bet against Garmin-Cervélo making further waves before this race is over.