To me that's all a TTT is. I see it this way: Every team starts out on the ramp as the winner, and the team to screw up least (aka limit the damage) wins.
You see, at this level, the percentages are so small and all the teams have super powerful riders and specialists (we have Farrar, Millar and Lancaster as our aces here). So what really creates the big time gaps are when someone is dropped, misses a turn, corners too slow and we have to re-ramp the speed up instead of using precious power at full throttle, ect.
And even things so small count in the final verdict. Such as one of your strong guys getting excited and pulling through a little too quickly can completely blow one of the weaker riders and the weaker rider will open a gap in a few rotations later. Everyone is at their 100% limit already, so the team that does win will be the one to commit the fewest errors. I hope that is us.
We had our pre-Giro TTT workout today. It was a little messy as we worked out the kinks, but it was fast, very fast. It's only at high speed that issues are highlighted. My position in the rotation is right between Millar and Farrar, I was handling it ok for a flying 5k, but I'm definitely nervous for the real test (and for my first grand tour!!!) on Saturday. With an inner city course only 20 minutes long and so many corners, it will all be about damage control. 'Til next time, Pete