Millar bides his time

By Shane Stokes in Doha, Qatar

David Millar was surprisingly chirpy after the second stage of the Tour of Qatar. The Scot crossed the line as part of the main bunch, 8.12 minutes down, but wasn't worried about losing time. He wants to be hitting good form in Paris-Nice, and so is content to just log some early racing miles in the 2.1 ranked race.

Sunday's team time trial was a priority for the Slipstream Chipotle squad, but when the hammer went down on Monday's first road stage, he was satisfied to let the Quick Step train go.

"That was f***ing savage," he said after the finish. "It was just mega fast. I was expecting it to be hard, but that was quite a bit harder than I expected! It was full on right from the beginning, they went sprinting off and I was way above my threshold for the whole first hour. Eventually I decided that I was digging way too deep and that is when I pulled off.

"I have a horrible feeling it will be like that for the week," he added, smiling. "Everyone is going to be very nervous now. But it is good, it is a good first race and form finder. I haven't raced before in January so I am already ahead of the game."