What’s this? A SRAM XX rear mech and cassette on a road bike? Yep, that’s right. This is British rider David Millar’s machine used to tackle the Dolomites during the Giro d’Italia.

The Giro is one of road cycling’s three Grand Tours, along with the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, and it’s a particularly brutal race – with this year’s edition featuring seven summit finishes.

And so Millar, twice a world time trial silver medallist, has gone hybrid – with a drivetrain made up of both road and mounain bike components on his Cervelo S3.

The Garmin-Cervelo rider wanted to stick with his 52×42 chainring setup and so while some riders (his Garmin-Cervelo team-mates, SaxoBank-SunGuard and Astana) opted to go with SRAM’s Apex rear mech and 11-32t cassette – Millar was forced to look elsewhere to achieve the same ratios.

SRAM XX meant Millar’s mechanic was able to fit an XX 11-36t cassette on the back, which necessitated the fitting of the XX rear mech, because a standard SRAM RED rear mech can’t cope with the massive sprockets.

XX was the first 2×10 setup available in mountain biking and now our friends over on the Tarmac have seen the light, too.

Images © The Road Diaries