By Gregor Brown
Team president Oleg Tinkov commented on Evgeni Petrov's good performance in the mountain time trial. The Russian Tinkoff rider opened the chase for a birthday victory with an excellent time on the first intermediate, then lost half a minute to Marzio Bruseghin on a final stretch (the team boss thinks it happened because of a wrong gear choice).
"It's a great pity Evgeni didn't make him a great birthday present like this," said Oleg Tinkov, "Anyway, he gave it all in an even battle of the strongest. Johan Bruyneel phoned me up to express his admiration of Petrov's performance, and I value his praise high as he's a great expert. I think Petrov has never been as strong as now, and it's very important for me that he's reached this peak with my team. I don't believe though, it's his absolute maximum, he's just turned 29 and will be even stronger next year."
As to Petrov's prospects for a high finish in Milan, I'm sure, barring accidents, he'll make top-10; he's absolutely capable of top-5; top-3 would be fantastic..."