Thanks to his second place in the opening time trial and his consistency the whole week, David Millar (Garmin-Cervélo) finished second overall at the inaugural Tour of Beijing, 17 seconds behind winner Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad).
"I came here with zero ambitions so it's reassuring to be able to get a result like this," he told Cyclingnews in a video interview.
As a result of his performance, Millar earned 80 WorldTour points and moved into the top 20 in the individual ranking.
The Scottish rouleur was initially "a bit skeptical" of the Tour of Beijing and mentioned on Twitter his difficulties regarding visa applications to get to the race. Millar spoke of his initial reaction: "We are all pretty tired and I've a new born son and I've already been ten days away for the world championships and I wasn't too over the moon about coming here."
At the end of the Tour of Beijing, Millar, however, was satisfied: "It's incredibly well-organised, it's very safe and we've been treated well," he said.